Saturday, August 29, 2009

Unofficial Sketch: Mini Roadster


An official picture of the Mini Roadster concept has been spied ahead of its official unveiling at the Frankfurt motor show next month.

The photo was taken from an official BMW poster used to promote the Mini brand as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. The Roadster is an open-top version of the Mini Coupe concept unveiled earlier this week.

The Roadster will be shown alongside the Coupe concept in Germany next month and both models are set to inspire production models in 2011. They are part of BMW's plans to extend and diversify the Mini brand and both models could inspire further variants.

The Roadster is expected to share its underpinnings with the Mini JCW and it will rival established roadsters such as the Audi TT and Mazda MX-5.

In reference to the chances of the Mini Coupe making production, Mini design director Gert Hildebrand said: "Hopefully we can get the okay before the end of the year. Everything you see is do-able for production — not cheap, but do-able.” The same is likely to apply to the Mini Roadster.

Thanks to: Autocar