Rocketboy's MINI Blog - Archives

According to Carpages, MINI is pulling out all stops again at the Birmingham Motor Show.

This year, from 26 May to 6 June, MINI is delighted to present 'MINI Open Air Theatre', an all-new, jaw-dropping, gravity defying stunt show. The star of the show will, of course, be the new MINI Convertible that will go on sale in the UK this summer.

Trevor Houghton-Berry, general manager, MINI UK said: "I am proud that the spectacular stunt show MINI put on at the Birmingham Motor Show two years ago has been the inspiration for this year's show becoming more interactive and exciting. We aim to top 'MINI Adventure Live!' with 'MINI Open Air Theatre' and are confident that our free of charge driving extravaganza will guarantee the great British public experience another great British MINI adventure."

Unlike other attractions at the Motor Show Live, 'MINI Open Air Theatre' will be complimentary to all ticket holders. The show will run every hour and each performance will be able to accommodate up to 1000 visitors. A special viewing area has been reserved for MINI owners who now number over 100,000 in the UK. Show organisers are hoping they do not all turn up at once.

You can read the full article here.

Erik...

Yes, and no. According to CarPages A big YES if you live in the UK. A big NO if you live anywhere else.

MINI tlc gives customers the opportunity to buy five years or 50,000 miles worth of servicing for a single payment of just 100[British Pounds]. It has proved to be the most popular MINI option since the car was launched in 2001 registering a record 98 per cent uptake rate.


Erik...

Here's another round-up for you...

The 2nd annual MINI Rally is July 12. (More Info)
Here is a big listing of event. Some more local than others.
The Pittsburgh Vintage Race is holding a 1000 MINI Mini event July 15th. (More Info)
MINIMeet 2004: The Wolfe Island Adventure has been announced. (Official Website)
And the Pulley Party is coming up soon on May 15th and 16th. It's too late to get any work done, but stop in and meet the Randy Webb.


Erik...

Woo Hoo... NYS is slowly entering into the 21st century. We're finally getting a 65mph speed limit on roads that are not toll road 'superhighways'.

And good news for me, one of the faster roads is the main thruway in and out of where I live in WNY. Good times. :)

Here's a little more info from one of the Buffalo TV stations.

Erik...

If you're interested in taking the MINI Factory Tour, but feel that's just not enough reason to go acrost the pond, Smithsonian Journeys has the perfect reason to take the tour. In September, they will have an English Motorcars tour, which features:

-Walk the floors of some of the world's most famous car factories, including AC Cars, Aston Martin, and BMW Group's new Mini facility.
-Enjoy the thrill of racing close-up at the historic Castle Combe Circuit.
-Immerse yourself in the heyday of racing at the Goodwood Revival, where drivers race sports cars of the 1950s and 1960s, and the music, food, attire, and overalambiancece reflect the era.
-Visit spectacular public and private collections, including the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Collection and Donington's renowned collection of Grand Prix cars from the 1930s to today.

It's a 10 day tour, with a visit to John Cooper Works on the 6th, including the chance to "meet Cooper's son Michael to discuss his father's career and the development of the Mini Cooper, past and present.".
And on the 8th, you spend some time in Oxford, including the MINI Plant tour.


Erik...

The wait is over. We now have official word on what changes we can expect to see in the MINI very soon.

What's good?
More power, better trannies, and more options.

What's bad?
"Dragon" cloth seats, with 'MINI' spelled out in Japanese characters. Luckly, we probably won't see it here, because it's a MINI One (D) thing right now. But what's next? MINI Type R?


Erik...
(Of course, thanks to Motoringfile for posting up the info and link.

I now have one of the sought-after Google Gmail beta accounts. I was early enough to get a Rocketboy address too.

Ok, not that exciting.

But feel free to drop me a line.

Erik...

Over on Motoringfile, there was a debate going on about how the BMW 1 Series would do in the US market, and how popular (or unpopular) small hatchbacks are. Buisness First Buffalo Edition just so happened to have a big state of the automotive industry section right after, and I thought that two of the articles were important to seeing why BMW does not think that it would be a good idea to bring the BMW 1 Series to market. (All of the articles from the In Depth section can be found here)

The first one is Midsize cars live on the soft side of U.S. market. Page 3 of the online edition:

Small cars didn't do much better [then midsize sedans], with losers far outnumbering gainers.

(There's a section about MINIs at the bottom of the page, but it seems like something thrown into the article.)

The second article is 54.3 percent of all vehicles sold classified trucks

Like it or not America just keeps on trucking, to the point where a record 54.3 percent of all new vehicles sold in the country last year were classified as "light trucks," as opposed to passenger cars. It was the third straight year so-called trucks outscored cars. That percentage means that of the 16.6 million new vehicles sold, more than 8.8 million were classified as light trucks, as against 7.8 million cars. By comparison, in 2002 light trucks accounted for 51 percent of the 16.8 million vehicles sold, yielding 8.5 million trucks reaching market. With total vehicle sales down by about 200,000 from 2002 to 2003, the numbers mean that truck sales actually increased by about 334,000 last year, while car sales declined by a little over a half million.
...
The National Automobile Dealers Association, a source for the numbers, credits much of the increase to the growing popularity of so-called crossover vehicles -- sport utility and related vehicles built from car chassis rather than truck underpinnings. CUV sales increased by 34.7 percent last year, according to NADA.

Also, I believe that the perception that most Americans have about small cars (hatchback or otherwise) is that they are cheap. Cheap in cost, and cheap in quality. MINIs are well priced, a lot more than a disposable car (hint: It's a Daewoo), but still very reasonable for what you get. I don't know what the price point for a BMW 1 would be in the states, nor would I even try to estimate, but even if it was in the MINI range, I really don't see too many people flocking to something that would more than likely be perceived as a Budget Luxury car. I think that MINIs might be slowly changing the perception that small cars are junk, but when you say 'hatchback', I'd say that most people think of something small and cheap. Not BMW and nice.

Erik...

I'll just let the creator of it describe what it is...

Who came up with this idea?
My name is Richard Lin, and I love to build things. When I got my own 03 MINI Cooper in September 03, it was a dream come true. Six months later, I'm still obsessed with my car! I got to thinking one day, wouldn't it be cool to have a central place where people could search for nearby MINI's and invite them for a quick coffee run, or just to chat about whatever interests them? I hope that all MINI owners will register here and use this service to help keep the sense of MOTORING alive!


It's not fully finished yet, as the creator posted up on this thread over on North American Motoring.com, but he plans on adding:

My final task will be to build in an instant messaging/email system to permit people to hook up with each other.

Well, you can find me on it, and you can find the site here.

Erik...

While looking for some info on what tires to buy for the summer, I happened upon this thread over on MINI2.com. Just thought I'd pass it along.

Erik...