Mini

Mini - brand cars manufactured by the corporation BMW. In 2007 production amounted to 237,709 vehicles. The car came from the UK.

1959 - Sir Alec Issigonis presented to the public first compact car Austin Mini with a transverse engine. Up until the mid-50s in the UK there was no affordable compact car. It was at this time in front of Alec Issigonis, designer and constructor of British Motor Corporation, was tasked to develop a compact car for four people. As a result, there was a real revolution in the design of compact cars. Almost all of the new car has been translated for the first time, in particular, the gearbox, integrated with an oil sump, and much more. A combination of front-wheel drive with transverse engine, will produce a car with a body length of 3 meters, while maintaining the volume of the cabin, brought a reputation as a genius Alec Issigonis.

1961 - John Cooper, designer of Formula 1, was so delighted with reliability and controllability of a tiny car that has decided to provide it with a more powerful engine, disc brakes and a contrasting two-tone color, which later became the hallmark of Mini. Modification of the Mini Cooper - and it was named as the new version of the sport - has become a welcome guest in the most prestigious neighborhoods of London.

1963 - there is a new model of Mini Cooper S with a more powerful engine. It is this machine has become a legend of motor racing.

1964 - Mini Cooper wins in the toughest rallies in the world: the Monte Carlo Rally. Paddy Hopkirk drivers and Henry Liddon feted as heroes, and the car itself, fearlessly defied bigger rivals and sophisticated, forever won the hearts of fans of racing. The victory was not accidental: in the following year Timo Makinen and the team of Paul Easter and ascended to the highest step of the podium, and in the 1967 Mini Cooper S running Rauno Aaltonen and Henry Liddon was again the winner of the Monte Carlo Rally.

1969 - on the screens of the world beyond the film "The Italian Job» (The Italian Job). Heroes of the gangster tapes were not just unprecedented, Michael Caine and Noel Coward, but Mini - with this little one managed to create the largest traffic jam in the history of cinema.

1970 - Mini became the best-selling car in Europe

1986 - are launched five millionth Mini.

1989-1990. - Mini is now inextricably linked with the name of Mr. Bean (played by English actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson).

2000 - release of four special modifications of the model ends production of the old Mini.

2001 - Under the leadership of an old BMW car plant in Oxford, has been updated, and began production of the new model MINI (written in capital letters to distinguish it from the classic Mini).

2003 - on the screen comes a remake of the 1969 film "The Italian Job" with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Edward Norton in the lead roles. The new MINI also plays an important role in the film.

2010-2011 - Creation of a new model of a retro car - 2011 Mini Countryman.