2012 MINI Coupe: Almost there

MINI Coupe Spy - Looks ready to go

Judging from the almost production-ready look of this spy shot of the MINI Coupe, it looks like it’s almost ready for showrooms.

It’s heading towards two years since MINI revealed the MINI Coupe at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2009. Along with its twin the MINI Roadster. Respectively they were MINI Concepts #984 and 985.

But bolting together a one-off concept for a Motor Show is one thing. Turning it in to a production model is something else altogether. Which explains the fact the MINI Coupe still hasn’t hit showrooms.

It didn’t take too long to get news that MINI were going to build the MINI Coupe (and the MINI Roadster) after Lord Mandy let the news slip when he couldn’t resist crowing that the Coupe and Roadster would create 1,000 new jobs in Oxford. Not that the news did Labour’s election hopes any good in the end.

Still, where are we at eighteen months down the line? Judging by the spy photo of the 2012 MINI Coupe at the top, it looks like we’re almost there.

No official news yet on what will be offered under the bonnet of the MINI Coupe – the concept had the JCW lump – but we’d guess it will be at least Cooper guise, if not Cooper S.

We’re assuming MINI sees the Coupe as a bit more ‘Sporty’ in its pretensions than the regular MINI, which would exclude the MINI Coupe One. But will probably include the MINI Coupe Cooper D and the MINI Coupe Cooper SD. We’ll see.

Think August/September for the first customer cars.