On August 5, 2011, we published an article on
worldcarfans.com's spy photos that it had tagged as photos of a "disguised third-generation 2013 MINI" and included an interior shot which showed the dashboard without a center mounted speedometer.
MotoringFile advises that the photos are
not those of a third generation MINI, at least not in total. MotoringFile says:
Worldcarfans is recycling spy photos today of a MINI prototype that we saw earlier this summer. Is this the new MINI? Actually it’s a strange franken-car that is made up of an R56 body wrapped around a BMW version of the UKL1 platform. Basically a serious case of cloak and dagger meant to throw-off sites such as Worldcarfans.
So if this isn’t the new MINI why does it look like a MINI (sorta)? With the UKL1 platform destined to underpin both the small fwd BMW city car and the 3rd generation MINI, the components (including the interior) are somewhat interchangeable. That means as BMW develops the 3rd-gen MINI (code-named the F56) it’s essentially developing the new FWD BMW alongside it. It’s also the reason why we see a BMW interior in what appears to be a MINI. So yes there are bits and pieces completely hidden from our view in the images here that will end up on the F56. But they are deep within this prototype and aren’t worth any conjecture at this point.
