While it has since expanded the Mini family to include estates, coupés, SUVs and five-door hatchbacks, in 2005 BMW chose a soft-top with which to first broaden the catalogue of its then still relatively newly acquired automotive fashion brand.
The Mini Convertible represented safe ground back then, not least because Rover had only happened on the idea itself the decade before, and only then because it was impressed with the reception that a limited-edition, dealer-converted Mini received.
The 2005 Mini Convertible came with a proper folding cloth roof, rather than the half-baked full-length canvas sunroof employed by old Mini soft-tops and the current Fiat 500C and others.
The design eliminated both the B-pillars and full-sized tailgate, replacing the latter with a bottom-hinged bootlid very much like the one with which Issigonis’s original Mini had come.
The Mini Convertible proved to be popular, almost 30,000 cars being sold in Britain before the previous generation came to an end.
Now it returns atop the new Mini UKL1 platform, promising enhanced levels of comfort and refinement based partly on the new architecture’s increased size and rigidity.
