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 Wednesday November 19, 2008 |
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MINI Concept Geneva |
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Written by Jeff Seabrook
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Tuesday February 28, 2006 |
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Page 4 of 8
MINI Concept Geneva Interior.
MINI all the day and for every purpose. “Floating Elements”
characterising the car’s interior design.
Querying the conventional and offering unconventional answers – proceeding from a high level of technology and emotion, MINI Concept Geneva reflects precisely these expectations. And this also applies to the interior design of the MINI Concept Car, offering an entirely new feeling of space with clever solutions for new ideas you can experience together with MINI time and again.
The car’s concept of colours and materials consistently continues the exterior message within the interior, focusing on sporting function, practical use of space and genuine value. Clearly, this makes MINI the small and fresh luxury experience for the whole day giving each and every day that special something.
Despite numerous innovations in terms of functions, materials and design features, many highlights of the “regular” MINI’s interior design are also to be found in the Concept Car, from the evolutionary enhancement of the large central instrument through the paddle switches so typical of MINI all the way to the far larger door panels on the driver’s and front passenger’s doors in their characteristic, elliptic shape: The joy of detail remains clearly in focus, with new features borne out time and again.
“Hovering” seats for the driver and front passenger. Free-standing
suspension and integrated belt system.
Opening the driver’s and front passenger’s doors, the enthusiast enjoying MINI Concept Geneva will immediately experience a truly generous and open impression: The seats for both the driver and front passenger appear to
hover in space, being mounted directly on the front centre console by means of special load-bearing extensions. This not only offers additional footroom
for the passengers at the rear, but also provides particular benefits in terms of open space along the floor of the car.
This impression is further enhanced by the slender construction of the seats basically reduced to two buckets similar to an open shell. To make access to the car as easy and convenient as possible also for the passengers at the rear, the front seats come with an unprecedented, truly unique Easy-Entry System, the seats moving forward with the help of an electric motor and at the same time rotating inwards.
Turning away (but not folding down) the backrest on the driver’s and front passenger’s seats, this provides much more room and freedom in entering the rear. Then, once the passengers have taken their seats at the back, the front seats automatically return to their original position.
As a further feature the driver’s and front passenger’s seats come with
a fully integrated seat belt system, consistently keeping the belts exactly where they are needed and avoiding any obstruction when entering the rear.
Room for comfort and convenient loading also at the rear.
The long wheelbase of the car gives two passengers at the rear adequate space in every respect or, alternatively, provides more than ample loading room for lots of equipment. The rear-seat backrests fold down individually to form
a flat surface flush with the floor of the luggage compartment. This facilitates the process of loading the car from all sides, either through the rear doors
or the driver/front passenger doors, with the further advantage of being able to conveniently move around and place bags and luggage in position.
The extra-large and flat loading area also provides ample space for large and bulky objects, the centre armrest between the two seats being fully integrated in the flat surface and offering additional storage space.
Opening up extra-wide, the two rear doors provide convenient access to
almost the complete cross-section of the interior, with the loading sill kept
particularly low, again in the interest of extra convenience. And even with the
two rear-seat backrests in vertical arrangement, the passengers enjoy loading capacity most acceptable for a car of this size.
The cupholders: keeping your drinks in easy reach and at a pleasant temperature.
Two things which would certainly not be accepted by a “classic Mini team”
are luke-warm Coke as a “refreshment” and luke-warm tea on the winter roads in the mountains around Monte Carlo – which is precisely why MINI Concept Geneva offers the right solution also for ideal “on-board service”: The chrome surrounds on the side air vents fold down to form cupholders at exactly the right point in the car: First, this keeps drinks within very convenient reach at all times. Second, this keeps your Coke cool on a hot day with fresh air from the air conditioning flowing straight to the cupholders. And on cold winter days the warm air coming out of the nozzles serves not only to de-mist the
side windows, but also to keep your tea at a pleasantly warm temperature.
Rotating Center Speedo complete with digital display and classic sports instruments.
The large central instrument on the dashboard of the MINI has a special status among the design icons of those fresh little cars from Britain – indeed, it is an absolute cult object. Full of self-confidence and right in the middle of things, therefore, the rotating Center Speedo in MINI Concept Geneva presents displays on both sides. The digital side incorporates the Cruise Mate complete with the info display for the navigation system
and a tuner easily conceivable in future as the central control instrument
for numerous functions inside the car.
Turned 180° around its vertical axis, the Center Speedo presents the classic displays on its other side virtually indispensable in a sporting car of this calibre: the coolant and engine oil temperature gauges as well
as engine oil pressure. To turn the Center Speedo, all you do is activate
a control unit on the transmission tunnel. The fire extinguisher is fitted
right in front, lying down in the footwell.
Over and above the usual features of a multi-function steering wheel, the steering wheel used in MINI Concept Geneva adds an additional function: A third spoke in the steering wheel in the six o’clock position serves to take up a stopwatch or a Tripmaster with an analogue display clipped into position.
Only the best inside. Leather, chrome, aluminium – the principal materials.
Inside the car, white leather enhances the flair of modern style and
the ample space available, creating a sophisticated ambience at the same time. Indeed, the colour white quite generally accentuates the clear lines
of MINI Concept Geneva, with red serving as a particular highlight colour, like on the exterior.
Top-quality leather is used on different surfaces: Grained cowhide accentuates the headrests as well as the inner lining on the side and rear doors.
Through its clear surface structure, this special leather conveys a feeling of lasting, sporting quality and contrasts convincingly with the soft leather featured on the seat backrests and the steering wheel. And last but not least, the roof lining comes in extra-soft alcantara providing a feeling of smooth silk.
Particularly soft and “velvety” leather featured on the dashboard almost
hovering in position and on the armrests on the side doors is highly attractive in terms of both its looks and surface touch.
Red inserts in the seat bottoms and backrests, red armrests, red inserts
in the floor and red rings on the cupholders provide a powerful highlight clearly contrasting with the interior colour white. Above the passengers’ heads,
in turn, silver trim features form a regular pattern on the perforated, red alcantara of the roof lining.
The soft and natural surfaces in pure white are supplemented by cool-looking, metallic surface trim. One example is the aluminium-coated glass-fibre structure on the oval lining within the doors, carbon-fibre mats in the same look accentuating the footwells.
Numerous further features within the interior are made of solid aluminium, such as the load-bearing arms holding the driver’s and front passenger’s seats in position.
Driving tomorrow: the key serving as a multi-functional
man/MINI interface.
The “island” element on the centre console between the front seats
forms what you might call the backbone of MINI Concept Geneva,
holding the driver’s and front passenger’s seats in position and providing an exceptional highlight through its elements in white porcelain look.
This is also where all the car’s “nerves” come together, MINI Concept Geneva possibly featuring a start/stop key unit as an integrated clock fitting smoothly and comfortably into the driver’s hand as a multifunctional interface between the user and the car. Then all you would have to do is place this key on to a receiving unit in the front part of the centre
console, using the combination provided in this way as a push button.
This little “genius” might then serve to mastermind numerous functions within the car ranging from the engine start/stop function through various car settings (seats, air conditioning, audio system) all the way to the function for operating the MP3 player. So obviously, the MINI Design Team has great ideas.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday February 28, 2006 )
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