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Based in Cowley, England, MINI is both the name of a division of BMW as well as
that of a car produced by that division since April, 2001. That car, designed by
Frank Stephenson is a retro redesign of the original Mini, made by the British
Motor Company and it's successors from 1959 to 2000. Sometimes called the BMW
MINI or the New MINI, the name is written in all capitals to distinguish it from
its predecessor. The MINI was originally designed by the Rover Group, but was
retained by BMW when they sold Rover in 2003. The Cowley, Oxford plant where the
MINI is manufactured used to be the Morris car plant.
Named in remembrance of John Cooper and the Cooper Car Company, the MINI Cooper
and Cooper S echo the names of the sportier version of the classic Mini. A
further connection to the Cooper heritage is emphasized by the eponymous John
Cooper Works (JCW) range of tuning options available. Cooper created a one-off
racing model of the MINI One called the MINI One S Works, which includes
performance-enhancing features such as a racing exhaust and air filter and an
upgraded suspension, as well as 17-inch racing wheels.
The various MINI models have many style and badging differences, but the most
obvious is that the Cooper S has a distinctive scoop cut into the hood to
provide airflow over the top mounted intercooler. As well, it has twin exhausts
which exit under the center of the rear valance. On the other hand the regular
(non-S) Cooper has more chrome parts than the MINI One and only a single
exhaust, while the MINI One has no visible exhaust pipes at all.
In Portugal and Greece, the MINI One is powered by a 1.4 liter Tritec engine,
but all other gasoline-powered MINIs have 1.6 liter engines, and a soft-top
convertible option has been available across the line since 2004.
In the United States and Australia, only the MINI Cooper and Cooper S are sold
because the MINI One's engine is not considered to be powerful enough to support
the use of air conditioning, a necessity in those countries. In reality,
however, the only difference between the engines in the MINI One and the Cooper
models is a software change tuning the Coopers for a compromise between power
and economy, rather than the peak performance option selected on the One.
Roughly seventy percent of US sales, and fifty percent of sales in Australia are
the top-of-the-line Cooper S. |
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