Mini collects pension after 41 years

THE King is dead. Long live the king. The original Issigonis Mini has received notice of its impending demise.

Production at the ancestral home at Longbridge, Birmingham, will cease in September with more than 5.3 million copies to its credit, built all over the world since 1959.

A group of European journalists recently voted the Mini as European Car of the Century (as opposed to the global vote which found in favour of the Ford Model T).

Having been threatened by legislative demise for almost 20 years, the Mini evolved with the times to an extent, even gaining an airbag for the almost horizontally-placed steering wheel in 1998.

The Mini nameplate does not die with the original bodyshell as BMW Group, which owns and runs Rover Cars, is set to launch a new Mini into the wheeltracks of the departing old-timer.

The new Mini is significantly larger and while sharing some vague styling themes with the original is actually a baby (front-drive) BMW, designed by BMW engineers and built in Birmingham.

New Mini will be launched as a marque on its own, unburdened by the trials and tribulations through which Rover Cars now travels.

Meanwhile, Mini Classic will live on in the hands of enthusiasts with new-old bodyshells available through the British Motor Heritage venture which up to now has provided life after death for old MG cars via the limited production of brand new bodyshells.

Nostalgia and fanatical Japanese buyers maintained Mini production over the last decade of its life, with more cars sold in Japan than most other countries, including Britain.

A series of special editions and the reincarnation of the Mini Cooper name in 1990 prompted a resurgence for the car and when BMW bought Rover in 1994 the prospect of a new Mini brightened.

In 1981 Austin Rover had attempted to replace the Mini with the more modern MiniMetro hatch. But this vehicle could not kill the Mini and was dropped from the line-up two years ago while the Mini soldiered on.

Rover says there are only 4000 Mini Classics available to buy between now and the termination of production, a move destined to see the trickle of annual UK sales turn to a torrent as Mini fans scramble to snap up a piece of motoring history.