SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE BMW GROUP'S MINI AUTOMOBILE

* The Mini holds the record for being in continuous production at a single
factory for the longest period of time: Longbridge, England, beginning in 1959
and continuing on through today.

* If you parked all the Minis ever made end-to end, they would reach from
London, England to Sydney, Australia -- a total of 10,568 miles.

* More than 5.3 million Minis have been produced to date, making it the most
successful British car ever.

* Famous people - including the Beatles, Peter Ustinov and the Queen of England
- have embraced the cheeky Mini.

* David Bowie and Kate Moss even designed their own Mini cars.

* Sixties fashion designer Mary Quant named the "mini skirt" after this car!

* The Mini was the first British car to win the European Rally Championship.

* The Mini has won the Monte Carlo Rally three times (1964, 1965 and 1967) and
more recently, the 1990 and 1991 Pirelli Classic Marathon.

* When the Mini was launched in 1959, a single-speed heater was an extra cost
option, there was no provision for a radio and you had to pump the windshield
wash manually.

* At fractionally more than 10 feet long, the Mini is still one of the shortest
production cars.

* It is believed that more British people have either learned to drive in, or
had a Mini as their first car, than any other car.

* Ringo Starr had his Mini converted into a hatchback to carry his drum kit
around.

* The Mini was the first British-built small car in the UK to feature an
exhaust catalyst.

* Sir Alec Issigonis, the inventor of the Mini, failed his math exams three
times at Battersea Technical College; fortunately, he was not put off from
pursuing a career in automotive engineering.