January 21, 2004

The Chevy MINI, err Nomad Concept... 

Yes, I know, few updates lately, I've been ill. Which is almost a blessing in disguise, because I saw something on Tech TV's Tech Live. They were doing a story about the Detroit Auto show, and I happened to see something which caught my eye. What was it? The New Chevy Nomad. Which looks just a WEE bit like the front end of a MINI. Click here for a huge pic from Autospies.

Coincidence? Well, according to an article by BBC's Top Gear, it's not. And I'm wondering if MINI/BMW is currently calling their lawyers.

According to the article,

Simon Cox, Director of the GM Advanced Design UK studio in Coventry, is the man behind the Nomad. He says: "I wasn't strictly targeting the Mini, but there are certain similarities. I wanted this car to have real personality, something the Mini clearly has - it has a character, a soul. The Mini's appeal also crosses a lot of generations. You can equally imagine younger and older people driving it. While the Nomad is very compact, it's lower, wider and much more flexible," he says. "I envisage it being used by business people, families or the sort of driver who'd want to paint a great big white stripe down the middle of it and take it to a track."

Also...
The moves to make the Nomad a more practical proposition than the Mini further stretch to the rear seats. "The Mini really isn't terribly clever in terms of its packaging," says Cox. "That's what we wanted to target with this car. It's a proper four-seater, where the Mini is strictly speaking a 2+2."


Simon Cox very CLEARLY had the MINI in mind. That, along with the VERY similar front end, the roundish grille, the oval-ish bug eye headlamps (with 3 sections even), and the a very MINI-esque profile, makes this, to me, VERY clearly a knock-off.

Erik...

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