New MINI Minor (a ‘Mini’ MINI) to be developed with Toyota

It seems the plans to build a new MINI Minor – a smaller version of the current MINI – are on track in a joint development deal with Toyota.

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It’s nearly four years since we saw the MINI Rocketman at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011 as a smaller version of the MINI. And it looked like a sound plan for production as an even more city-oriented MINI than the current model.

Since then, the MINI has grown in its latest iteration to be more of a Maxi than a MINI, so the logic to build a pocket-sized version for congested cities now makes even more sense.

The problem, is, what can MINI base a new MINI Minor on?

That was the conundrum that puzzled MINI production boss Pat McKenna, but it seems a solution is at hand – co-develop the new MINI Minor with Toyota, according to Georg Kacher.

It seems the partnership between BMW and Toyota – which includes BMW diesel engines for Toyota, Hybrid tech from Toyota to BMW and a Supra/Z4 joint project – is now going to deliver a new jointly developed platform for MINI to build the new Minor on.

The MINI Minor, complete with EV versions, is unlikely to arrive much before 2018, adding to the current three-door and five-door MINI hatch, the new MINI Clubman due this year, the new MINI Countryman due in 2016 and probably a production version of the MINI Superleggera in 2017.