MINI Rocketman returns for London 2012

The MINI Rocketman Concept – first seen at Geneva 2012 – has been titivated and rolled out to promote BMW’s London 2012 sponsorship.

We all thought, when BMW rolled out the MINI Rocketman Concept at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011, that this was the future for a second, smaller take on the modern MINI.

But BMW seemed to go cold on the idea of building a modern MINI with dimensions much closer to the original Issigonis Mini so we thought the plans had gone out of the window. But maybe not…

MINI has revealed a newly titivated version of the Rocketman to promote its London 2012 involvement, complete with a Union Flag colour scheme inside and out.

At a full 300mm shorter than the MINI Hatch, the Rocketman is less than 400mm longer than the original Mini, a size much more chuckable in an urban environment, and comes with an unusual 3+1 seating configuration and a huge greenhouse area.

The London 2012 Rocketman gets a dark blue paint job with red splashed on the grill, roof edge and round the edge of the alloys with Matt Porcelain White used on the wheel spokes, door mirrors, boot opener, headlight surrounds and around the edge of the grill for the full red, white and blue effect.

The full surface glass roof has illuminated braces to create the Union Flag when its dark and still show a Union Jack pattern in white during the daytime. Inside get the same red, white and blue theme – with bits of carbon fibre – and the centre console is a miniature basketball court complete with players (wouldn’t a football pitch have been more appropriate for Britain?).

There is no suggestion from BMW that the MINI Rocketman is back in play as a smaller version of the next generation MINI. But it strikes us as a fine idea.