4 x 4 x 4 x 4 MINI
Source: MINI
Sep 12, 2008 - 8:10:54 AM
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MINI goes Channel hopping with Crossover Concept debut at Paris Motor
Show.
The MINI Crossover Concept is a design study for a fourth variant
in MINI’s current model range. With four doors, four drive wheels, four single
seats and at four metres in the length, the Crossover Concept combines
versatility and style: its main aim is to tempt new target groups into the world
of MINI.
The MINI Crossover Concept is packed with innovative design
details and practical solutions. It seeks to retain MINI ownership as a unique
prospect as competitors continue to try and replicate the successful MINI
recipe.
You know what they say about length…
The MINI Crossover
Concept is the first MINI model to measure over four metres in length and almost
1.6 m high, giving it greater practicality and enhanced flexibility. Interior
personalisation opportunities are also increased.
Looks
matter…
The MINI Crossover Concept still features many of the typical
MINI characteristics, such as the wheels located at four corners to highlight
the ‘go kart’ feeling, the circular design features and the entertaining use of
space and functions. More than just an all-wheel drive, however, the MINI
Crossover offers fantastic flexibility and meets more specific customer
requirements.
With four doors, two on each side, you may think the MINI
Crossover Concept has a conventional feel after all. But you’d be wrong. Two
conventional doors can be found on the passenger’s side (front and back), with a
third for the driver. The fourth door, for the rear passenger on the driver’s
side, slides back along the outside of the car for convenient access and
loading.
The rear door has a frameless, retractable window and when open,
swivels to one side to facilitate the loading of long items, such as skis,
snowboards and surfboards. But it doesn’t stop there: the capacity can be
increased even further due to the folding roof cover which extends across the
whole length of the roof and there’s even a transport case which can be fitted
on to the outside of the rear door.
But it’s what’s inside that
counts…
With more storage space than ever seen before in a MINI, the MINI
Crossover Concept offers additional capacity and uniquely, the opportunity to
personalise the layout of the interior.
The four seats are individual,
single seats which can be adjusted forwards and backwards by up to thirteen
centimetres in the rear – allowing more legroom to the rear passengers.
The front and rear seats are linked visually by the new MINI Centre Rail
– a matt-polished aluminium fastening rail which extends from the dashboard
through the middle of the car, to the rear. A unique fastening system can be
used with the Centre Rail to attach cupholders, storage units and entertainment
consoles which can be passed between the front and the rear passengers.
A
special collection of dishes and cups have been created by Porzellan Manufaktur,
Nymphenburg, specifically for the Crossover Concept’s Centre Rail.
The
MINI Crossover Concept features a new display and control console which hosts
all major entertainment, telecommunication and navigation functions: the MINI
Centre Globe. This three dimensional globe can be personalised independently by
both the driver and passenger as the display is shown in two hemispheres – for
example, allowing the passenger to surf the net whilst the driver follows the
navigation.
Operated by a touch-sensitive surface, the MINI Centre Globe
can also be programmed by a trackball situated on the steering wheel, buttons or
slide controls in the lower section of the globe, or even by a keyboard which
extends out from the dashboard on the passenger’s side.
The MINI Centre
Globe also hosts the stop/start function, whereby the driver inserts a Keyball
into the upper edge to start and switch off the engine.
The MINI
Crossover Concept previews at the Paris Motor Show and is the basis on which a
series production will be developed in the future.
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