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It could also become the next addition to the Mini line-up, although nothing is confirmed yet and the car will not be seen for the first time until the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.
The two-seat Mini Concept Coupe is all new but, like every Mini model since BMW Group brought the car back from the dead, has a solid link to the past. In this case it's to a car called the Broadspeed Mini, which was a cut-down racer with a low roofline and a bunch of go-fast gear developed by British tuner Ralph Broad.
The original Broadspeed GT Coupe was built in limited numbers in the 1960s as a road car, based on a Mini Cooper S.
It's a similar story with the Concept Coupe, which picks up the mechanical package from the regular Mini but wraps it in a cut-down coupe body with a much different look to the roof and tail. Mini began the Clubman push with a string of motor show concept cars and the Concept Coupe could easily go the same way.
The Frankfurt car is a genuine runner that uses the 155 kiloWatt turbo engine from the Mini John Cooper Works, as well as its tweaked chassis. The body has been substantially tweaked, from the laid-back windscreen and A-pillars to a new roof and a low-line tail with far more taper than the boxy four-seater. Predictably, there is a spoiler set into the rear end. Mini says luggage space is greater in the Concept Coupe because it takes up space from what is normally the back seat, with a lift-up tailgate.
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