MINI Cooper S with JCW GP Kit
3/4 ordered 6 months ahead of launch

Motion Trends,
2nd February 2006.

If you are interested by the MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works (JCW) GP Kit, you'd better hurry up. The first of what has already been dubbed the MINI GP will be delivered in July.

Of the 2000 units being built, only 444 are destined for the UK, while almost three quarters have already been ordered by MINI enthusiasts six months ahead of launch, and before the car has even been seen in its final guise.

Further information will be available soon, but the most powerful and lightest MINI yet offers a power output of around 218hp and weighs approximately 40 kilos less than a standard MINI Cooper S.

The two-seater will have a brimful of standard equipment including JCW 18” alloy wheels, Dynamic Stability Control, multi-function steering wheel, air-conditioning and Recaro sports seats.

The options alone add up to £10,000 if specified on a standard MINI Cooper S, yet the car will be priced at approximately £22,000.

Just for the record, if you still believe that the Mini is just a small niche brand, well, it is certainly not competing with Toyota to oust GM this year from the world's top car maker position, but still, believe it or not, plant Oxford, the only production home of MINI, is now the third largest motor manufacturer in the UK, with 200,119 units produced last year (some 70 per cent exported to over 70 countries).

Not bad, isn't it, for a single model brand (till now)! In less than five years since the first MINI rolled off the Oxford production line, the BMW-owned brand comes now after Toyota and Nissan (in the UK production of course), ahead of... Vauxhall (GM-owned brand), Honda, Land Rover (Ford-owned brand) and Peugeot.