2010 Beachcomber MINI Concept Sports Car The vision of a radically open body concept

2010 Beachcomber MINI Concept Sports Car

MINI achieves all this by consistently expanding the model range and through the unconventional creativity of MINI design. Just a few months prior to the launch of the brand's fourth model announced for autumn 2010, MINI is now demonstrating its potential for further enhancement of driving pleasure and diversity through another spectacular concept car: the concept of a brand-new type of vehicle proudly presented by MINI at the North American International Auto Show (16–24 January 2010) in Detroit. The MINI Beachcomber Concept is a four-seater concept car designed consistently for maximum driving pleasure, taking up the enhanced options of the new MINI and combining these potentials with the vision of a radically open body concept.

A new all-wheel drive system, ALL4, and a flexible interior make the MINI Beachcomber Concept ideal for a spontaneous and active experience. It is designed without doors or a conventional roof, and all other body elements that could limit the intensity of the occupants' encounter with their surrounding world. This allows the driver and up to three passengers to connect with their surroundings - whether cruising through town, enjoying rough tracks in the mountains, or breezing along the beach. The vehicle's space concept, partnered with a modern drivetrain technology, ensures a highly emotional driving experience. The MINI Beachcomber Concept is a symbol of the brand values packaged in a new, radical style.

2010 Beachcomber MINI Concept Sports Car

The MINI Beachcomber Concept combines all-wheel drive with cutting-edge suspension technology, numerous body elements serving to make the car extra-strong and robust, as well as an elevated seating position. Generous spring travel and extra-large light-alloy wheels raise the entire car to a higher level. Access to the front and rear seats is nevertheless exceptionally convenient and easy thanks to the omission of doors and the entry cutouts extending all the way down to the seat bottoms, allowing the driver and passengers to get in and out in one smooth and flowing process. A pleasant and interesting side effect is that the distance the occupants feel from their surroundings is reduced to a minimum.
MINI designers were inspired by the new MINI crossover production model, which they enhanced beyond the realms of urban mobility to create the MINI Beachcomber Concept. In creating this concept, they utilized the technical qualities of the production crossover model, and made adaptations to offer the ultimate expression of freedom. The result is a new open concept driving experience for all your senses, plus a greater degree of versatility than ever experienced before in a MINI. Unique, typical of MINI, and with a great role model from way back when.
The MINI Beachcomber Concept is the vision of a car leaving behind all conventional standards and creating innovative momentum for individual mobility of the future. The combination of traction optimised by all-wheel drive for excursions beyond the beaten track, on the one hand, and an extreme focus on motoring in the open air, on the other, is quite unprecedented in the world of the automobile.

The authentic style and character of the MINI Beachcomber Concept also results from the fact that the brand once already offered an extreme thrill of driving pleasure in the open air by conscious reduction to the very minimum: Way back in 1964, just five years after the market launch of the classic Mini, the creator of the first model, the world-famous engineer Alec Issigonis, already developed an all-open version of this revolutionary compact car.

2010 Beachcomber MINI Concept Sports Car

With its robust structure and the drivetrain technology carried over from the Mini, this four-seater fun car became a great success particularly in the sunny regions of the USA and Australia. Production of the Mini Moke in Great Britain continued until 1968 with a production volume of some 14,500 units, following which production was continued in Australia and Portugal.

Even ALL4 all-wheel drive goes back to a role model from the past, to be precise a prototype Mini Moke fitted by Alec Issigonis with two engines in 1963. On this test car appropriately referred to as the 'Twini', the front and rear wheels were driven in each case by a four-cylinder from the Mini range of engines.

Modern and up-to-date from A–Z, the MINI Beachcomber Concept offers a wide range of innovations for consistent driving pleasure in the 21st century. The outstanding know-how in automotive development of a premium car maker in the areas of design, drivetrain, safety and production technology brings together the undiluted character of the concept car with a wide range of solutions most convincing in practice.

2010 Beachcomber MINI Concept Sports Car

Individual rear seats adjust forward and back to offer the passengers a supreme standard of grand touring comfort tailored to their individual requirements. The rear seat backrests fold down completely to allow appropriate adjustment of interior space for all needs. In practice, this means that the driver and passengers are able to conveniently stow even bulky sports equipment such as mountain bikes or wakeboards securely held in position by special fastening systems.

The MINI Beachcomber Concept is built for the sunny side of life and is simply perfect for spontaneous action. Through its optimum flexibility, the car is able to meet many different requirements, naturally coping with any sudden change in outdoor conditions. Made of an extremely light and, at the same time, very robust special fibre, the roof comes with transparent plastic inserts at the sides and at the rear serving as windows. In its functional qualities, the roof follows the same standard as the most sophisticated and demanding outdoor wear combining maximum protection from wind and rain with minimum weight.

2010 Beachcomber MINI Concept Sports Car

The MINI Center Rail comes complete with an integrated cable duct allowing the user to connect a mobile phone or MP3 player in any position to the car's entertainment system by means of a holder fastened to the rail. Another option is to connect additional sources of light, a cooling box, a laptop or a GPS tracker safely and securely to the Center Rail, each with their own power supply. The range of holders has been further extended especially for the MINI Beachcomber Concept, now including a stopwatch specially made for the new model, a bottle holder, a compact meal box as well as a case for cycling and swimming glasses, clearly reflecting the sporting character of this concept car and simply ideal for the triathlete.

2010 Beachcomber MINI Concept Sports Car

Following the MINI Crossover Concept opening up fascinating new options through the further extension of the brand family, the potential of the MINI's modern drivetrain technology and its flexible space concept is now being used consistently to offer additional driving opportunities in a new dimension. Indeed, the MINI Beachcomber Concept offers a particularly emotional driving experience, demonstrating these qualities once again in that unique style so typical of the brand. Clear proof, therefore, that unconventional creativity still serves today to open up the door to brand-new vehicle concepts pointing into a future bound to offer even more fascinating renditions of that unique feeling so characteristic of MINI.