Mini has cancelled its plans for a production version of the diminutive Rocketman concept, which it unveiled at last year's Geneva motor show.
So why has BMW decided to kill the mini Mini? After all, the will was evidently there to create a proper city car-sized Mini, rather than an outsize version of the Issigonis original.And, judging by the reaction on PH to the original unveil of the Rocketman, the buyers would have been there too.
The problem, it seems, came in getting the car to meet stringent modern safety regulations. And in making it handle with the sort of chuckable sportiness that Mini buyers expect. The result? The death of a car that, according to
Car magazine's Georg Kacher
, who broke this story, could have been in Mini showrooms around 2016.
The shelving of the Rocketman project also begs another interesting question: if Mini is to introduce three new models by 2020 (giving it a 10-model range), exactly what are they going to be if the Rocketman isn't one of them?