MINI, official partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB, has unveiled its new London 2012 special, limited edition models to celebrate the monumental London 2012 Olympic Games. There will be just 2012 of these special edition models built, which are available in Cooper, Cooper D, Cooper S and Cooper SD trims and come in the Union Jack themed colours; Chilli Red, White Silver or Lightning Blue. All models boast white mirror caps and a white roof featuring the London 2012 Olympic graphic.
The exterior also features a Union Flag single sport stripe which runs over the bonnet, roof and rear tailgate of the car. The side scuttles also bear the London 2012 Olympic graphic. To finish off the dynamic look, the MINI London 2012 edition features unique grey 17-inch conical spoke alloy wheels – unavailable on any other MINI model.
Inside, the most striking feature is the London skyline, beautifully etched across the width of the piano-black dashboard. Silhouetting some of London’s most iconic landmarks, including Tower Bridge, Battersea Power Station and the London Eye, the dashboard also displays the words ‘London 1 of 2012’.
To bag one of these must-have street accessories of 2012, the new MINI London 2012 Edition pre-sale list opens at today, with the new models hitting UK roads from March 2012. On the Road Prices for the MINI London 2012 Editions models are:
MINI Cooper Hatch | £17,800 |
MINI Cooper D Hatch | £19,080 |
MINI Cooper S Hatch | £20,125 |
MINI Cooper SD Hatch | £20,860 |
More at www.mini.co.uk
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Rather oddly appealing for a BMW (actually Rover but never mind) mini.
i love the piping round the seats, and the image of London across the dash, please can they be standard options??? what i dont want is the Olympic logo across the roof, i have never taken it seriously after some comedian said it looks like Lisa Simpson giving head
Oh, not another pointless colour and trim special edition from the marketing department.
Sorry, but I find it too gimicky for my liking.
Actually yes it does look quite smart, the union jack piping is subtle but still a nice touch. I wonder if BMW have got someone Italian, French or even British to style this as most of their other styling seems very German.
It’s like the old saying, BL could make plastic look like wood, the Germans could make wood look like plastic. As a rule they rarely ‘get’ styling, it’s always very well built functional with spot on ergonomics, but styling never seems to hit the right mark.
Compared to say italians, who often built badly made, rust heaps with all the switches in the wrong place, but still managed to make them look cool.
No i’m not a fan of the 2012 Logo either, doesn’t look out of place spray-painted on the side of an underground carriage. I wouldn’t want it plastered on the roof of my car any more than i’d want used hypodermics and burnt tin foil strewn across the floor of it.
Oh dear.
Another vulgar BMW. One can only imagine the indignities they have done to Rover if they’d not bailed out in 2000.
But I’m sure it’ll sell out to the BINI buyers who have more money than taste.
Dave Frisby – I’ll never watch the Simpsons again! Traumatised!
Much to my surprise I like the piping and the graphic. I wouldn’t want anything to do with the Olympics on any car I bought, but the principle of such schemes is good and hopefully more interesting designs will appear (hopefully in more interesting cars!)
One problem with this car though, it will look dated very quickly, i mean it has 2012 plastered across it.
Looks fine (if you like that sort of special edition) and BL/ARG did plenty of dubious limited editions of the Mini and Metro as well!
It’s a bit early though, I’d have though it would be launched in summer 2012, say May or June, to get maximum publicity.
“Looks fine (if you like that sort of special edition) and BL/ARG did plenty of dubious limited editions of the Mini and Metro as well!”
Good way of squeezing a bit of extra cash out of a buyer though. At the end of the day that can only ever be good for a car manufacturer.
“It’s a bit early though, I’d have though it would be launched in summer 2012, say May or June, to get maximum publicity.”
True but 2012 cars is quite a few and depending on the mark-up it might take them a while to shift them. The idea is probably to get these seen on the road for the Olympics (which only actually lasts about 4 weeks.)
The evolution from a cute little car to ugly puffer fish continues apace I see…
It’s been like that since the second generation one was launched though. First gen had quite good lines i thought, but then pedestrian safety regs made it bloated.
I love that dashboard but I can see many having the graphic removed from the roof especially when the games have finished.
So long as they don’t lacquer over it!
Surely it should now be called the ‘HUGE-Y’ – the damn thing’s almost bigger than a Focus now!
Overall Length:
Focus Mk1 1998-2004 = 4174 mm
Focus Mk2 2005-2011 = 4342 mm
The MINI Hatch compared with its supermini competitors, ie. Fiesta, Corsa, Yaris, Micra, Clio, etc
Overall Length:
MINI (Mk1 2001-06) = 3626 mm
Fiesta (2002-08) = 3918 mm
Corsa (2003-06) = 3839 mm
Yaris (1999-05) = 3640 mm
Clio (2001-08) = 3812 mm
(The Mk2 MINI hatch has grown slightly for front pedestrian impact safety rules but so also have all the competitors later models!)
Dennis @12: It wasn’t just the pedestrian safety regs, it was the need to fit the very bulky Prince engine in at the same time. The later (R56) MINI does rather remind me of how Harris Mann’s original design for the Allegro also became bloated (and completely ruined) by the need to fit in the overly tall Maxi engine and a bulky heater unit in. I can’t wait for this design to be put out of its misery and hope that BMW make a much better job of MINI Vs 3.0.
This special edition had passed me by without me noticing. Not only will it (as has previously been said) date very quickly, but it’s unbelievably tacky!
Having said that, I’d like to point out that I still quite like the current MINI, it is just that (even after nearly 6 years of trying to get used to it) it still looks so much worse than the car it originally replaced in 2006.
I have to say, I like the etched dashboard. It could lead to some extra personalisation options for the interior – I’m sure, for example, that the thousands of Leeds city girls (and boys) would love the Leeds skyline on the dash. Same goes for Manchester, Birmingham etc.
And Scottish, Welsh and Irish cities obviously!
Hi, Anyone know the colour or colour code of the wheels on the Olympic 2012 Mini? My daughter owns one, and has damaged the wheels(again).
I have tried contacting the dealers, etc etc, but no one seems to know.
It’s not ferric grey.
Hi , the wheel colour is anthracite shiny