The new MINI: a present-day original and "Classic of the Future".

Munich. The new MINI offers instant appeal, but it is also excellently equipped to provide long-term fascination, too. As far as readers of the automobile magazine "Auto Bild Klassik" are concerned, the latest generation of the premium small car already has what it takes to become a lasting classic. They voted the new MINI "Classic of the Future" in the category of small and compact cars. This has led to the new edition of the British original now being awarded the "Golden Classic Steering Wheel".

Very few cars can be said to have the kind of properties which set them clearly apart from their current competitive environment while also demonstrating classic potential at an early stage. The new MINI has it all: a unique brand tradition, its current status as the original in the small car premium segment and also pioneering technology. Even 55 years after the launch of the classic Mini, the brand's hallmark principle of the intelligent use of space and its agile handling properties known as the go-kart feeling have lost nothing of their attraction. Authentic design, unique style and characteristic driving fun are timeless quality features which give the new MINI lasting appeal, too.

This is now the fifth year in which the "Golden Classic Steering Wheel" has been awarded. The prize is based on the results of a vote in which readers of "Auto Bild Klassik" were asked to name their favourites in a number of categories, including "Classics of the Year", "Find of the Year", "Restoration of the Year" and "Classic of the Future". So the prizewinners not only include highly coveted milestones of automobile history, spectacular rarities and exotic specimens painstakingly saved from disrepair but also current models whose particular appeal for later generations of motorists is already obvious here and now.

The "Golden Classic Steering Wheel" is the second award of its kind the new MINI has received in the space of just a few months, having already won the "Motor Klassik" readers' vote last spring. Here the new MINI came first in the small car rating and was likewise voted "Classic of the Future".