Keeping the hit parade coming - Editorial - further developments for the BMW Mini Cooper - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, April, 2002

Do you remember Beatlemania? I was a mere grade-schooler when John, Paul, George and Ringo invaded the U.S. in the early 1960s and turned the music scene upside down. I became hooked immediately. The band had everything an impressionable young music fan could want -- the songwriting, the sound, even the "look" that every kid wanted to copy.

What made the Beatles so enduring when other pop groups came and went was their product -- a non-stop stream of hit songs that dominated the radio from 1963 through 1967. The band's success was no accident. Its manager Brian Epstein and recording producer George Martin knew exactly what they had, and how to use it for maximum impact.

Like all good product experts, Epstein and Martin knew how to get the best out of Lennon and McCartney's creative genius. They knew when to utilize new song arrangements and studio technology. Most importantly, they were masters of keeping the hit parade coming and the fans begging for more. As quickly as you'd wear out the grooves of the latest Beatles record, a new one was hitting the airwaves and the stores.

Describing the Beatles in auto industry terms, they were the world's best at product development, production, marketing and knowing their customer.

This twisted flashback occurred to me at the recent press preview for the new Mini Cooper. Design chief Gert Hildebrand was teasing the auto writers with hints of Mini variants to come. Perhaps a 'woody' Mini? A pickup? A long-wheel base sedan? Maybe even a Mini speedster.

Sources familiar with the R50 program say a Mini Cabrio is indeed in the works for '03, the pickup is approved and a 5-door version is being seriously considered. Add to them the supercharged Cooper S already headed to showrooms and a diesel, and a blueprint for the future emerges.

Clearly BMW has a plan to keep the Mini hit parade running at full throttle. In doing so it's avoiding the mistake made so far by Volkswagen (and to a lesser extent by Daimler-Chrysler): little or no follow-up to the big hit.

VW's New Beetle already has been with us for four years. "Beetlemania" has come and gone, and the company's only effort to keep the iron hot has been the Turbo version. Worse, there's still no Convertible.

Chrysler is doing slightly better in loading the PT Cruiser pipeline. After a glorious start as a 2001 model (not unlike that of the 19641/2 Ford Mustang), Cruisers are everywhere. The frenzy's faded and dealers are offering rebates. But DCX has approved at least two significant PT follow-ons -- a 4-door convertible and a turbo charged model.

Spinning off a steady stream of variants to keep a model line hot is nothing new. The early Mustang came tooled in three body styles with a slew of engine options. Within three model years it had new sheetmetal. Ford's $59 million investment in the program yielded over two million Mustangs sold in the first 24 months and well over $2 billion in profit.

Today's new auto programs are often just as risky but much costlier. As he looks for ways to develop "inexpensive but cool cars that first-time buyers won't be ashamed to buy," General Motors' Vice Chairman Bob Lutz believes in scaling a program down to a volume that will ensure a sold-out product if it's a hit. Then it's not as risky to commit additional money to break capacity bottlenecks if demand skyrockets, Lutz says.

The key is ensuring maximum product for minimum investment, of course, and that's where BMW and its former Rover Group team that developed the new Mini have really done the job. They've maximized an inexpensive but very cool product. Now watch how they keep the hit parade coming, to keep three shifts busy at Oxford. Minimania is just beginning.

Lindsay Brooke is editor-in-chief of Automotive Industries