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In the latest issue of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology application catalogue, Automotive Industry concern obtained a new MINI COOPER S application chart, which is the first production car under Beam Motors, jointly built by Great Wall Motor and BMW Group, and is scheduled to be listed and available for the global market in 2024.

In terms of appearance, the new MINI COOPER continues the classic shape of the MINI family as a whole, retaining round headlights and oval front grille, white suspended roof and blue body complement each other, with exquisite new rims, very recognizable. On the side, the new car is still a classic two-door design, and it does not directly cancel the two-door version like the domestic smart. In the rear part of the car, instead of using half a capsule-shaped British flag taillight, the new car uses a triangular taillight design, which is connected by a through strip in the middle. The "COOPER" English sign is located in the center, and the "beam car" sign is in the lower left corner. In terms of size, the length, width and height of the new MINI COOPER are 3858 (3863) / 1756/1458mmz and the wheelbase is 2526mm.

In terms of interior decoration, referring to the overseas version of the model, the new MINI COOPER cancels the dashboard, and the HUD head-up display system will replace the dashboard. The central control screen still continues the iconic design of MINI, but it is no longer a rectangle cut out of the circle, but a real round screen. In addition, the button area under the central control screen also uses circular design elements, which still has a certain inheritance with the current model. The steering wheel also uses a new style, while abandoning the classic circular air conditioning outlet, but using the current popular through air outlet.

In the power part, according to the declaration information, the new car will launch a single motor version with a maximum motor power of 160 kilowatts. In addition, the new car will be equipped with ternary lithium batteries from honeycomb energy (monomer) + beam car (assembly).

Beam Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Beam Automobile") was established on December 27th, 2019, with the registered address at No. 888 Caihong Road, Yangshe Town, Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province, and the legal representative is Zhao Guoqing, Deputy General Manager and Vice Chairman of Great Wall Motors. The registered capital is 1.7 billion yuan, and the business period is from December 27, 2019 to December 26, 2034. Equity penetration shows that Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. and BMW (Holland) Holdings each own 50% of the joint venture, of which BMW (Holland) Holdings is the actual controller.

Beam Automobile is the first joint venture project of Great Wall Motor, and it is also the first pure electric vehicle joint venture project of BMW in Germany. The cooperation mode of the two sides adopts the mode of "joint venture without joint venture" for the first time, that is, to jointly develop and produce automobiles. However, the products will be sold in the respective service networks of BMW Group and Great Wall Motor respectively by brand. According to the original plan, Beamcar is not only responsible for production, but also includes the joint research and development of pure electric vehicles between the two sides in China. It is expected that the future MINI pure electric vehicles and Great Wall Automobile's new products will be put into production here, but the latest news says that Beamcar is currently only responsible for the production of two future MINI electric models, and there is no progress on the new products jointly developed.

MINI, originally a British carmaker, has a history of 63 years since it was acquired by BMW Group in 1994. According to data released by BMW Group, global sales of the MINI brand in 2023 were 295500, an increase of 0.9% over the same period last year, accounting for 11.56% of BMW Group's total sales.

The progress of domestic MINI is particularly slow. As a competitor, smart is one step ahead in electrification. Since the joint venture between Geely and Mercedes-Benz in 2019, smart has begun to transform to motorization and has launched two motorized models so far. Figures show that 42900 smart vehicles were sold in 2023.

Both MINI and smart are minority brands in China, and what is more important is to feed the overseas market after being domestically made. From the positioning point of view, MINI and smart are similar, and after the two brands set out in the new field of electrification, they cooperate with Great Wall and Geely respectively, but from the timeline point of view, the progress of the beam car is particularly slow, and the new car will not be introduced to the market until 2024. In the face of the increasingly competitive Chinese market and the large-scale layout of the global market of Chinese brands, MINI, which locates itself as a minority, obviously loses more opportunities for development.

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