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>> 20 January 2012 - New City Slickers : The MINI Baker Street and MINI Bayswater

With just months to go before the Olympic Games get under way in the capital city of the brand's home country, MINI introduces two new special-edition models to spread contemporary London style around the world. The latest takes on the MINI character – the MINI Baker Street and MINI Bayswater – will go on sale in Australia in May 2012.

Expressive design features and exclusive equipment inject the cars’ exterior appearance, interior ambience and hallmark driving fun with their own distinctive flavours. The MINI Baker Street embodies the youthful, fresh and innovative trend-setting style of the brand, while the MINI Bayswater focuses primarily on the sporting verve and agile handling for which MINI is renowned.

Both special-edition models will be produced over a limited period and offered for sale worldwide. The MINI Baker Street can be ordered in, MINI Cooper, and MINI Cooper D guise, while the MINI Bayswater is available as a MINI Cooper MINI Cooper S and MINI Cooper D.

MINI Baker Street : An Individualist with a Taste for Extravagance

New exterior and interior design details developed exclusively for the MINI Baker Street mark out this special-edition model. The Rooftop Grey metallic exterior paint shade combines with special bonnet stripes whose basic colour black is given extra character by a subtle V-shape design.

The 16-inch 6-Star twin-spoke light-alloy wheels are painted in high-gloss black along with matching black exterior mirror caps presenting an attractive contrast to the bold, contemporary appearance of the new exterior paintwork.

The MINI Baker Street can also be ordered as an option in the body shades Pepper White and Midnight Black. The roof is painted black, while “Baker Street” lettering on the side scuttles frames the side indicators and points to the exclusive character of this special-edition model.

In the interior a fresh interpretation of the cloth/leather seats available for the standard MINI teams up with exclusive interior surfaces to create an unmistakable ambience.

In traditional British style, the surfaces of the new seat variant in Cross Check Rooftop Grey light feature a diamond pattern. Cross Check Rooftop Grey light is also used for the surfaces of the cockpit and door trim and is combined with a Rooftop Grey light Colour Line. Light grey contrast stitching for the floor mats, gearshift/selector lever as well as the handbrake gaiters and seat tags which, like the door sills, bear “Baker Street” lettering, round off the array of bespoke interior features.

Also included in the MINI Baker Street is the high-end MINI Navigation system, a popular feature that utilises voice output, arrow pointer and map display to guide drivers to their destinations.The range of optional equipment, meanwhile, offers a host of other items with which customers can tailor their car to their personal requirements.  

The engines channel their power through a six-speed manual gearbox as standard or an optional six-speed automatic.

The MINI Baker Street will have a MRLP of only $1,950 (including GST, excluding LCT).

For visitors to London and locals alike, the MINI Baker Street’s name will be synonymous with the address of a certain fictional hero. It is 125 years since Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle released his first story with the master detective in the title role.

Today, the Sherlock Holmes Museum and Madame Tussauds waxworks museum can both be found just a stone’s throw from Baker Street underground station.

MINI Bayswater : The Extrovert Sportsman

The MINI Bayswater wears its inherent sporting élan and extrovert style very much on its sleeve. The Kite Blue metallic exterior paintwork was created exclusively for the special-edition model, as was the interior design and 17-inch light-alloy Sandblast wheels with high-gloss black surfaces and bright machined rim and spoke edges.

Midnight Black metallic and Eclipse Grey metallic paint shades can be ordered for the MINI Cooper S as an alternative to the new, radiant Blue finish.

The sporty appearance of the MINI Bayswater is emphasised by the black contrasting roof and the likewise newly created Sport Stripes for the bonnet, which streak dynamically towards the windscreen. The exterior mirror caps carry an identical stripe design – blue on the right-hand side of the car, grey on the left.

“Bayswater” lettering adorns the side indicator surrounds, door sills and seat tags. The Punch Leather seats come in the exclusive colour variant Rocklite Anthracite and include side bolsters sporting a metallic sheen and blue and grey contrast stitching. Two-tone contrast stitching also adorns the gearshift/selector lever and handbrake gaiters.

Other innovative design features in the interior include Piano Black cockpit trim strips, which continue the path set by the Sport Stripes over the bonnet, and the leather Colour Line elements in Rocklite Anthracite, whose classy character is emphasised by black stitching. The same leather variant is also used for the armrests, while the model-specific floor mats have anthracite-coloured edging and blue contrast stitching.

The MINI Bayswater also comes with the Chrome Line Interior package and the Harman kardon HiFi systemPlus, the new special edition can likewise be specified with a wide variety of items from the optional equipment list if further individual touches are desired.

In keeping with its sporting charisma, the MINI Bayswater lines up for action with powerful engines at its fingertips. Customers can order their MINI Bayswater in MINI Cooper (90 kW/122 hp), MINI Cooper S (135 kW/184 hp), MINI Cooper D (82 kW/112 hp) trim. The special-edition model is also delivered with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, while a six-speed automatic features in the options range. The MRLP for the MINI Bayswater is $3,400 for the Cooper and Cooper D models and $2,700 for the Cooper S (including GST, excluding LCT).

The MINI Bayswater takes its name from an extremely vibrant area of London. Located to the west of the city centre – halfway between the shopping hot spots of Knightsbridge and Notting Hill – Bayswater is best known for its unusually high density of bars and restaurants, not to mention the adjacent and no less famous Hyde Park.

MINI is therefore returning to the London theme to further accentuate the link with both its home country and the fascination surrounding the London lifestyle. Indeed, both the MINI Bayswater and MINI Baker Street are following in the tyre tracks of a naming tradition begun by the classic Mini and reprised more recently with the MINI Camden and MINI Mayfair.

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