A report has emerged suggesting that Mini plans to replace its slow-selling Coupe and Roadster models with a stand-alone compact sportscar.
Although Mini has expressed a desire to spin 18 models off two new platforms within the next five years, there’s a chance that the Coupe and Roadster will not be among them.
The report filed by Australian consumer motoring website, CarSales, claims that the two models were pushed into production under the insistence of BMW/Mini’s design departments, as opposed to product development buy-in, and failed to achieve the modest sales targets set for them.
“If we are only going to sell 15 000 a year of a certain model, we should make more of an effort to make it stand out, to make it jump off the road as something different but still identifiably a MINI,” a source said.
The new model in question will be underpinned by the BMW’s new front-wheel drive UKL platform and will share few body panels with any other models in the range. It will, however, retain such signature styling cues as the rounded headlamps and wheel-in-each-corner stance.
Both soft- and hard-top models, wearing the F59 and F58 internal monikers, respectively, will utilize much of the hatchback’s steering, suspension and mechanical hardware and will likely be offered only in Cooper S and JCW guises. The interior is likely to draw inspiration from the firm’s Vision concept car.
While the rest of the Mini range will utilize a combination of three- and four-cylinder powerplants, the new cars will reportedly drop the current turbocharged 1,6-litre unit in favour of a BMW-sourced, direct-injection, 2,0-litre.
The same report also alludes to a possible Mini sedan spin-off, although this could be considered a bridge to far for those already dismayed by the modern Mini’s ballooning proportions.
A 2015 release date has been suggested, but we’ll have to wait and see if these reports hold any water before then.
