The new Mini Cabrio is due to make its debut at the New York Motorshow in April. The car is to rival the likes of Citroën's Pluriel as well as the bigger Volkswagen Beetle Cabrio.
To be badged the Mini Open, the cabrio will feature a conventional canvas top with a heated rear window made of glass and a bottom-hinged tailgate, as it was on the original Mini.
The glass window will keep the cabin warmer and quieter at the same time. Front-end and taillights, however, will be unchanged.
Entry-level edition will be the 1.6-litre One with 100 HP, followed by the 1.6-litre Cooper with 115 HP, presumably the biggest seller.
The range will be topped by the 160-HP Cooper S, though an even more potent Cooper Works edition might follow later. Prices are not fixed yet, but we expect a €3,000 premium over the standard Mini.
Owner BMW is expected to increase the number of Mini hatchbacks it builds in Oxford by around 10 per cent over the next few years. "It's something that will be done gradually," says the Munich-based marque's chief executive Helmut Panke.
"We are not looking at another facility to build Minis. Oxford is its home, and we have some good ideas to increase volume production there step by step - 180,000 a year would not be out of this world."
The success of the iconic little hatchback, has taken BMW executives by surprise and kept the firm's sales growth on the rise.
The company built around 160,000 Minis last year with the Oxford factory running at its current full capacity and sold over 144,000. Britain and the US are its top two markets.
Investors had initially worried that BMW would struggle to make much profit on a product pitched squarely at the lower-margin small car market, but the company says it now makes money on every Mini it sells.
BMW's chief financial officer Stefan Krause said the extent of demand for the more expensive and faster Cooper and Cooper S versions have also taken the company aback. They had initially expected the basic Mini One model to account for 60 per cent to 70 per cent of sales.
"It is exactly the opposite now." ... - Automedia