Hot-hatch hat-trick for the "UK's cleanest car company"

For the third year in a row, the MINI Cooper S has been named the best hot
hatch on sale in the UK at the annual What Car? awards ceremony.

An unbeatable mix of brilliant performance, low running costs and high residual
values are just some of the reasons for the MINI once again taking the
highly-coveted gong.

In July last year, the MINI Cooper S won the 'Green Sports Car' category in
What Car?'s Green Awards 2008. The accolade was recognition of MINI's
commitment to manufacturing frugal and fast premium small cars, with minimal
cost to the environment.

The efficiency gains and CO2 emission reduction provided by standard fitment of
MINIMALISM technology, which includes Auto Start/Stop, Brake Energy
Regeneration and Shift Point Display, helped secure another title for the MINI
Cooper S ahead of more recently launched competitor models.

(See attached downloadable document for formatted table)

MINI Cooper S VW Scirocco 2.0 TSI Honda Civic Type R Clio Renaultsport 197
Power (hp) 175 200 198 197
0-62 (sec) 7.1 7.2 6.6 6.9
Top Speed (mph) 140 146 146 134
Fuel Cons. (Combined) 45.6 37.2 31.0 33.2
CO2 (g/km) 149 179 215 199
Price (OTR) £16,575 £20,499 £18,020 £15,660

Recognition of the strides MINI is making in reducing C02 emissions across its
model range was underlined in research findings published earlier this week by
CleanGreenCars.com

The website released figures which detailed calculations of the average CO2
emissions of each car sold during 2008, therefore reflecting improvements in
the emissions of the model ranges on offer, as well as the buying pattern of
the market.

The cleanest car manufacturer of 2008 was found to be MINI at 137.24 g/km*,
while the industry average CO2 emission figure stood at 158.7g/km.

MINI's average CO2 output improved by an impressive 6.8 per cent in 2008.
Further improvements will be achieved across the range when the new MINI
Convertible is launched on 28 March 2009, meaning CO2 emissions from a MINI
will be as low as 104 g/km for the MINI Cooper D and no higher than 153 g/km
for the sporty MINI Cooper S Convertible.

Ends.

Notes to editors:
*According to www.cleangreencars.com, the top 10 cleanest manufacturers by CO2
emissions in the UK during 2008 were:
MINI - 137.24 g/km CO2 average in 2008, 6.8% improvement
Fiat - 137.32g/km CO2 average in 2008, 3.45% improvement
Peugeot - 140.16g/km CO2 average in 2008, 4.55% improvement
Toyota - 144.01g/km CO2 average in 2008, 2.86% improvement
Citroen - 145.40g/km CO2 average in 2008, 1.80% improvement
Skoda - 148.00g/km CO2 average in 2008, 2.23% improvement
Hyundai - 148.03g/km CO2 average in 2008, 10.09% improvement
Daihatsu - 148.62g/km CO2 average in 2008 , 3.34% improvement
Renault - 151.91g/km CO2 average in 2008, 2.27% improvement
Ford - 152.34g/km CO2 average in 2008, 1.61 improvement