roadandtrack.com The Mini Rocketman Might Be Built as an Electric City Car
By Collin Woodard May 4, 2016 Share Tweet Text Share E-mail
Back in 2011,
Mini showed off the Rocketman, a concept that was nearly a foot shorter than the Mini Cooper Hardtop. With so many cars, including the Mini Cooper, getting larger every generation, the Rocketman's diminutive size was refreshing. It never went into production, but apparently, the tiny Mini could still have a future.
Autocar reports that the Rocketman could see production in some form but as an EV, potentially even as a Mini-badged version of
the BMW i3.
"The Rocketman is inspiring us as of today, especially as an EV in the future," said Mini head Ralph Mahler.
At the time, putting such a small car into production would have come with huge challenges, but electrical components take up much less space than conventional engines, transmissions, and gas tanks do. Producing the Rocketman as an electric car, then, would be a much simpler task.
"It was something that was ahead of its time but is still inspiring. With a smaller car, it's a bigger challenge. With Rocketman, and talking EV in the future, as the EV engine gets more portable, it's give and take [as to whether it is possible to make such a small car]," said Mahler.
But the Rocketman isn't the only old concept that's still showing signs of life at Mini.
The Superleggera Vision from 2014 is also still in the picture even if it's not currently slated for production.
Mahler called it "the second concept that's inspiring us at the moment," partly thanks to the incredibly strong reception the rear-wheel-drive roadster received.
"It fits perfectly into the brand, but we're a small [on sales volume] car brand and have to be focused and know what we want to have. The Superleggera is playing a role but no decisions," he said.
Considering that the roadster segment isn't particularly large, especially in the U.S., it's understandable that Mini would be cautious about putting the Superleggera into production, even as a front-wheel-drive model.
Even the perennial segment leader the Mazda Miata isn't nearly as popular as we'd like it to be. Last month, it was beaten by
the Buick Cascada's sales, which is all kinds of upside down and backwards.
But we're still holding out hope that Mini can figure out a way to justify building the Superleggera. It's such a great-looking car, it would be a shame to never see it go into production.
via Autoblog
