Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, at the Annual Accounts Press Conference 2010, made the following statements about MINI:
The Countryman, due out in September, will be the next addition to the MINI family and the first MINI with four-wheel drive.
. . . with MINI, we have successfully established a premium brand in the small car segment.
MINI is not a miniature version of another model series. MINI is and will remain the Original – with a signature face, a unique tradition and over 1.5 million fans around the world.
We will launch more MINI and BMW models and variants – also in the small car segment. This segment is expected to grow further. And we will take advantage of this opportunity. We are exploring the possibility of developing a joint architecture for the front and four-wheel drive systems of these cars. In other words: There will be front-wheel drive BMWs in the smaller vehicle classes in the future. We all know that the cost structure in the small car segment is different from that of the larger model classes. We intend to grow profitably in this segment as well.
Customers are currently testing the MINI E for us. Some drivers have told me that they would love to keep their MINI E. Our annual report actually includes a section on customers and their experiences with the MINI E. BMW will follow suit in 2011 with a customer test fleet based on the concept study “BMW Concept ActiveE”. This test fleet will be built at the Leipzig plant.
[Source: BMW Group PressClub USA]
