At the Frankfurt Motorshow launch of the MINI Coupé and MINI Roadster concept cars, the chance arose to speak to the ever accommodating Marcus Syring from MINI design.
Everybody knows Gert Hildebrand, head of MINI design, and Gert is always an enjoyable character to talk to; but while Marcus Syring is perhaps less famous than his boss, über PR savvy Mr Hildebrand, his passion for the cars he has himself penned, such as the new MINI Roadster and MINI Coupé, is matched only by his apparent delight in sharing his motives, methods and inspirations. Marcus didn’t provide so many headline grabbing comments referencing Jackie Onassis or backwards turned baseball caps, but what he had to share was enlightening and some of it, perhaps slightly surprising.
I first truly experienced Marcus and his infectious enthusiasm for MINI at the launch of the second generation MINI at the 2006 Paris Motorshow, at which Marcus spent far more time than I ever expected explaining to me many details of the car in great depth. More than three years later it is clear that his passion for the MINI has not waned in the slightest, and with the MINI stand buzzing with enthusiasm all day thanks to his latest designs, you could feel an air of pride and satisfaction that the party had gone without a hitch.
The MINI Coupé was the main topic of conversation. The MINI Roadster Concept (for these are just concepts, not the final production models, however ready they may appear to be) was an idea which had been buzzing around at MINI for many years. Sketches had been made and internally there was enthusiasm from a design perspective. The Coupé was another story, and when word came from the powers that be that a Coupé and Roadster concept car were needed, no, desired, the design team had a window of around six months to get them from their minds, onto paper, and ready for the glare of the World’s media.
The MINI GP (AKA MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Tuning Kit) played a role in bringing these ideas from paper to confirmed future production models. MINI had been cautious about a two seat Roadster for a couple of good reasons. Firstly, they were worried it could simply steal sales from the already popular MINI Convertible and secondly there was a level of uncertainty that a dedicated two seater MINI would sell at all. The GP certainly sold, and this helped convinced the bean counters and management teams that yes, MINI attracts the kind of hardcore enthusiasts who will willingly lose two seats to gain something extra special.
The MINI Roadster is also seen as a different proposition to the Convertible, more hardcore, more dedicated, and less accommodating for offering lifts to buddies. Again, the GP set a precedent that this was OK, some people love to drive at least as much as they like to be a taxi service for friends and family. And fair play to them for that.
Perhaps it is due to the reassurance provided by the success of the MINI GP that the MINI Roadster includes a brace bar, much like that of the GP, to offer protection to the occupants from shifting luggage under heavy braking.
To me there seems an inherent conflict that professional designers must learn to live with.
Design, be it automotive, fashion, or any other variety, is an artistic process. You need inspiration, something to ignite your imagination and set the creative juices flowing. But surely art cannot be turned on and off like a tap. How can someone create incredible works of art on a nine-to-five basis? It would appear that, from talking to Marcus, they can’t.
This is perhaps why the MINI Coupé design, which he had apparently been wrestling with like something of an angry oiled octopus, sprang to him over the Christmas holidays of 2008. Over the course of a couple of coffee fuelled hours Marcus had filled a grid sheet, “acquired” from BMW Designworks, with pencil sketches of what would become the MINI Coupé Concept we see today.
Inspiration in the design of the MINI Coupé comes from many quarters, but surprisingly few from the automotive sector. Interior design, architecture, and even fashion play their part. But other cars? Not really it would seem, only in so much as to show what not to do, what to avoid, cliché.
The unusual roof line of the Coupé was a deliberate move to break away from the traditional Coupé profile view flowing from bonnet to roof to boot, as witnessed in popular modern Coupés such as the Audi TT. As mentioned in our previous article from the Frankfurt show, this was in part inspired by the Triumph GT6, but also by the world of fashion. The roof spoiler mimics to a degree a collar on a dress witnessed some time ago at a fashion show, like a collar on a man’s shirt.
Ideally, it is Marcus’ desire that the b and c pillar of the Coupé will be separate from the glass and plastic which surrounds it, much like is often witnessed in modern architecture, when the structural endoskeleton is wrapped in a “floating” glass facade.
Design isn’t all about appearance. Engineering and cost factors of course play their part in the birth of any new vehicle, and a new MINI is no exception. I had a sense that an awkward shut line on the boot of the MINI Roadster, due to the rear quarter panel, an extremely expensive part of the car, being shared with with the MINI Coupé, niggled Marcus Syring more than it probably did any onlooker, if they even noticed it at all.
The raked windscreen, which somehow transforms the front of the car so dramatically from the norm, was another challenging part of the transformation of the well known MINI silhouette into the more aggressive outline of the “untamed twins”.
While the six month turnaround had surely applied a great deal of pressure on all involved with the conception of these vehicles, Marcus, and everyone else involved we encountered, were clearly delighted with the final result.
There is a genuine sense that these new MINIs, which we were assured would be priced sensibly within the rest of the MINI range, would lead to the MINI carving out another new niche brand of modern, affordable, stylish, yet small and affordable dedicated sports cars, just as MINI proudly claim to have invented the concept of a genuinely premium small car with the MINI hatch back in 2001.
Tags: Frankfurt Motorshow, Gert Hildebrand, Marcus Syring, mini concept, mini coupe, MINI Coupé Concept, mini design, MINI Roadster, MINI Roadster Concept
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