MINI Superleggera is the talk of the week. We’ve just published the patent sketches of the innovative roadster, while a new report just surfaced. According to Autocar UK, the Superleggera Concept has yet to receive the final approval for production. The company is said to continue to evaluate the product, despite the initial positive reactions the car has received, with some customers even placing a deposit on the car.
The Superleggera was built to see ‘“how the public would react to a MINI stretched in a way that it had never been stretched before”, says board member Peter Schwarzenbauer, “and react to design cues that were back to basics, reduced to the max. We got an extremely positive reaction to it, although some hardcore MINI fans said ‘no, that’s not a MINI’.”
Schwarzenbauer admits for the first time that the Superleggera uses a rear-drive layout. Schwarzenbauer says the RWD “is a natural,” and the “simpler interior and electric drivetrain are where the brand is going direction-wise.” But of the roadster concept itself “we are not sure yet – the volume is low, and how many open cars do you need in a range?”
MINI brand head Jochen Goller also says that in the near future, the MINI models will be differentiated more when it comes to design, but the face of a MINI will always remain to identify the brand. Goller hints that future models like the Clubman will differentiate itself from the hatchback, for example, when it comes to front-end design.
