Do you need help? Please contact our support team from 9 to 17 CET via support.pressclub@bmwgroup.com.

PressClub New Zealand · Article.

MINI Recharged & Paul Smith: An icon sustainably reinvented

The British designer converts a classic Mini from the 1998 MINI Paul Smith Edition and reinvents the classic in the process. The customised car is part of the MINI Recharged project, which celebrates the fusion of tradition with pioneering technology, by installing an electric motor in the original model. In June 2022, this unique car from the iconic designer will celebrate its world premiere at the Salone del Mobile 2022 in Milan.

F56
·
Special Vehicles
·
MINI Electric
 

Press Contact.

Leanne Blanckenberg
BMW Group

Tel: +61-3-9264-4238

send an e-mail

Munich/Milan. Upcycling of the highest order: a legendary classic is transformed into a newly designed and modernised electric car for emission-free driving. Sir Paul Smith, long familiar to fans of the iconic British brand that has been in business of over 50 years, is the creative mind behind this collaboration. The presentation of this sustainable project at the Salone Del Mobile 2022 in Milan provided a fitting stage for Sir Paul Smith and Oliver Heilmer, Head of MINI Design, to discuss sustainable approaches to automotive design.

Only last summer, Paul Smith presented the MINI STRIP at the IAA motor show in Munich: a radically reduced, sustainable concept car. Paul Smith's MINI Recharged model now revisits this idea to explore the possibilities of sustainable design. "Three things describe this car perfectly: quality, sustainability and functionality," the designer explains.

"This car also respects the past,” Smith adds. With this one-off, Paul Smith is revisiting an even older project that has linked him to MINI for over 20 years: in 1998 he created the MINI Paul Smith Edition, limited to 1,800 vehicles. The prototype of this unique edition was painted a bright blue based on a swatch taken from one of Paul Smith’s favourite shirts. The new unique model retains this unmistakable, memorable shade of colour, while the lime green battery box recalls a 1990s colour palette. Despite the redesign, however, the original ethos of the car remains.

The project is also about respecting heritage and timeless design – in particular, the iconic work of Sir Alec Issigonis, creator of the first Mini. "When you move into your old aunt's flat, out of respect you don't change everything, but you do some modernising," is how Smith puts it. Sir Alec Issigonis developed the classic Mini in response to the oil crisis of 1959. Minimum fuel consumption, maximum use of space – that was the idea that convinced millions of people over many decades to invest in a Mini, and is still partly responsible for the success of MINI today.

The radically reduced and sustainable concept of the MINI Strip continues in the interior of the newly designed car. By deliberately leaving out trim parts, the bodyshell with its bare, unclad floor pan dominates the interior, with rustic floor mats made of recycled rubber on top. In addition to innovative, resource-saving materials, Paul Smith's design leaves out entire instruments in other places: a magnet next to the steering wheel accommodates the smartphone, which, apart from the speedometer, replaces almost all the old buttons and functions on the dashboard. The steering wheel in his exclusive model can be completely removed to facilitate getting in and out of the car – both an innovative solution as well as a tongue-in-cheek quip symbolic of Paul Smith’s trademark wit.

“We have made a 1990s car totally relevant for today,” is how the designer describes it. “Ideas are never the problem, you can find them everywhere. The challenge is to implement them. Here it worked. A dream has come true," he says. The engineers from ‘Recharged Heritage Limited’ are also responsible for making this dream a reality. The new MINI partner converted the classic Mini into an emission-free vehicle by installing a 72-kilowatt electric motor. MINI already offers series-manufactured, locally emission-free driving pleasure with the all-electric MINI Cooper SE (combined power consumption: 17.6 – 15.2 kWh/100 km according to WLTP; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km) and the MINI Cooper SE Countryman (fuel consumption combined: 2.1 - 1.7 l/100 km according to WLTP, 2.1 - 1.9 l/100 km according to NEDC; electricity consumption combined: 15.5 - 14.8 kWh/100 km according to WLTP, 14.8 - 14.1 kWh/100 km according to NEDC, CO2 emissions combined: 47 - 39 g/km according to WLTP, 48 - 44 g/km according to NEDC) with plug-in hybrid drive and is on its way to delivering an all-electric future.

For the purposes of exhibiting the unique design at the Salone del Mobile 2022 in Milan, the Paul Smith showroom will be designed in the striking colours of the MINI Recharged by Paul Smith. At the Salone del Mobile, visitors will have the opportunity to see the newly designed model as well as last year’s MINI STRIP for themselves.

More details about the MINI Recharged project and new partner ‘Recharged Heritage Limited’ will be revealed soon.

 

In case of queries, please contact:

Corporate Communications

Franziska Liebert, Communications MINI
Phone: +49-89-382-28030
E-mail: franziska.liebert@mini.com

Andreas Lampka, Head of Communication MINI
Phone: +49-89-382-23662
E-mail: andreas.lampka@mini.com

Jennifer Treiber-Ruckenbrod, Head of Communications MINI and BMW Motorrad
Phone: +49-89-382-35108
E-mail: jennifer.ruckenbrod@bmwgroup.com

Article Offline Attachments.

Article Media Material.

My.PressClub Login
 

BMW Group Streaming

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2024.

Munich. Here you can see the on demand webcast of the BMW Group Annual Conference 2024, with the world premiere of the next BMW vision vehicle on the "Road to Neue Klasse".

Open Streaming Page

CO2 emission information.

Fuel consumption, CO2 emission figures and power consumption and range were measured using the methods required according to Regulation VO (EC) 2007/715 as amended. They refer to vehicles on the German automotive market. For ranges, the NEDC figures take into account differences in the selected wheel and tyre size, while the WLTP figures take into account the effects of any optional equipment.

All figures have already been calculated based on the new WLTP test cycle. NEDC figures listed have been adjusted to the NEDC measurement method where applicable. WLTP values are used as a basis for the assessment of taxes and other vehicle-related duties which are (also) based on CO2 emissions and, where applicable, for the purposes of vehicle-specific subsidies. Further information on the WLTP and NEDC measurement procedures is also available at www.bmw.de/wltp.

For further details of the official fuel consumption figures and official specific CO2 emissions of new cars, please refer to the “Manual on the fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and power consumption of new cars”, available at sales outlets free of charge, from Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH (DAT), Hellmuth-Hirth-Str. 1, 73760 Ostfildern-Scharnhausen and at https://www.dat.de/co2/.

Add your filter tags.

Press Release
Press Kit
Speech
Fact & Figures
Updates
Top-Topic
Submit filter
Clear all
 
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
 
Login