It was only a matter of time before Mini and Rolls-Royce – the two most disparate points of the BMW group – joined forces on some special editions. And so it is that Mini will show the Mini Inspired By Goodwood at the 2011 Shanghai auto show.
Just 1000 Minis Inspired By Goodwood will be built (in Oxford, not Goodwood), with worldwide sales starting in spring 2012. No price has been announced yet, but we hear a tag pushing £30,000 is likely.
That sort of change is probably swilling around the back of the leather chaise longue onboard the yacht…
Mini Inspired By Goodwood: the lowdown
This is mainly a trim customising job. Rolls-Royce interior designer Alan Sheppard drummed up the interior colour and materials, inspired by Rollers’ Corn Silk colour hue, which is liberally applied to the centre console, carpet, roof and more. Roller burr walnut, wool, leather and cashmere adorn the dashboard, seats, headlining and carpets, while those black dials use the same typeface you’ll find in a Phantom.
Outside is a more sober diamond black metallic unique to the Mini Inspired By Goodwood, or you can pick a Reef Blue metallic. All the Rolls Mini editions have Cooper S spoilers, but Cooper D bonnets. Which goes to show that the bonnet air scoop on the latest turbo cars is merely a dummy. And scoops are so not Rolls-Royce, darling.
Any engineering changes?
This is essentially a Mini Cooper S, with the regular car’s 1.6 twin-scroll turbo petrol engine. That means 182bhp and 192lb ft of torque, and drivers can pick the regular six-speed manual or a more Rolls-suited auto with the same number of cogs.
Mini quotes 0-62mph in 7.0sec and 48.7mpg, with CO2 emissions of 136g/km. It rolls on 17in alloys with naff ‘Mini Inspired By Goodwood’ branding by the side indicator repeaters, while the cabin is pepped up with adaptive swivelling xenon headlamps, parking buzzers and Harman Kardon hi-fi.
The Rolls-Royce Mini! It’s posh supermini overload…
What with the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari, the Aston Martin Cygnet and potential Lotus supermini, there’s no shortage of posh small superminis out there.