It looks as if we’ve been speaking concerning the MINI Superleggera for some time. Although it debuted over a decade in the past, we simply final week checked out its origin story because the “MINI Ferrari,” just for MINI to then publish footage of a gold-hued MINI Superleggera on its Instagram. After we ran that story, commenters weighed in and made us do a double take. This was not, actually, the identical MINI Superleggera we noticed all these years in the past sporting Cosmo Blue paint. After gathering some new pictures from MINI, we’ve confirmed that this can be a MINI Superleggera we haven’t but seen.
This MINI Superleggera is Almost Manufacturing Spec
Trying on the footage, it’s fairly obvious that this MINI Superleggera is extra prepared for manufacturing than the MINI Superleggera Imaginative and prescient. As we lined in our unique article on the automobile, there are some giveaways. The black-painted wheels are JCW-spec, and two-piece bumpers exchange the painstakingly crafted bodywork of the unique MINI Superleggera Imaginative and prescient. Single-piece models can be far too costly to mass-produce (and exchange), which signifies this car as extra production-spec.
The roll bars space additionally completely different from the Imaginative and prescient automobile’s. They now sit increased, main us to imagine it’s what a manufacturing automobile would possibly appear like. New headlights, seemingly lifted proper off the final era MINI Cooper, and a smaller rear “fin” add to the extra “reasonable” aesthetics. Oddly, the hood on this automobile goes the opposite method. This model has vents and scoops that make it look extra aggressive than the idea.
There’s one different large clue that this automobile is method completely different than the unique MINI Superleggera. Across the again, we will see MINI identifies this automobile as a “Hybrid Check Car.” The unique MINI Superleggera was all-electric. We’ve got to think about the automobile borrows the two.0-liter, 228-horsepower four-pot discovered elsewhere within the MINI lineup. Supplementing it with battery energy would make the doubtless light-weight Superleggera a ball of enjoyable. Contemplating the engine has 280 pound-feet of torque by itself, throwing electrification within the combine would make the MINI Superleggera a real go-kart round city. A singular rear spoiler not seen on the unique automobile sits atop the taillights. Which, shock, are additionally barely tweaked from the unique automobile.
MINI Superleggera Inside Modifications
Perhaps most significantly, this automobile seems to have a virtually full inside. The inside has a steering wheel we’ve seen in different MINI merchandise, fronting what seems to be a manufacturing speedometer. Whereas Recaro race seats and a harness system exchange standard seats and a seatbelt, it seems that the cabin is fairly nicely put collectively. We don’t have a full shot of the cabin, sadly. Within the sole inside shot supplied, we do see a full middle stack filled with buttons and switches. Contemplating the MINI Superleggera Imaginative and prescient had practically nothing within the cockpit, this can be a clear step in direction of manufacturing readiness.
We don’t know whether or not the MINI Superleggera is going through an actual chance of manufacturing. What we do know is that this can be a new model, was apparently constructed with manufacturing in thoughts. Do you wish to see a manufacturing model of the MINI Superleggera? We all know we do. [Photos provided by MINI and BMW Classic to BMWBLOG for publication / Shot by: David Pentek]
