The CarGurus Blog

From the outside, it still looks like a MINI

BMW owns both MINI and Rolls-Royce, so it only makes sense that they’d have Rolls build a super-luxe MINI Cooper.

Right. That makes sense like mixing A1 Steak Sauce and Tang just because they’re both owned by Kraft Foods.

Regardless, a story at Autocar says BMW is close to announcing that production is near on a super high-end Cooper trimmed out by Rolls-Royce. Apparently all four Beatles once owned Coopers with tricked-out interiors, so that justifies pimping out today’s version of the popular MINI.

I wonder if people in Europe are excited by this news, but I’ve sure never seen a Rolls-Royce with no headroom, shoulder room, legroom, or back seat. While the idea is surely innovative, it doesn’t make sense for these two worlds to collide.

Maybe this is just a way for BWM to keep the master craftspeople at the RR factory busy until the recession passes. Even so, MINI Coopers can already get close to the $30K mark with the very well done John Cooper Works version. An RR version is sure to soar well past that mark, then take a huge hit in residual value.

Anyone who spends that much money for a tiny front-wheel-drive hatchback, however it’s dressed, is someone I want to speak with; I’m sure I can sell him or her my all-new Tang mixture…

Should a Rolls-Royce-trimmed MINI Cooper come to the U.S.? Is there any logic here, or has BMW lost its mind?

-tgriffith

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