MINI selects 40 UK test drivers for MINI E leases
MINI E - Click above for high-res image gallery
Apparently drivers in the UK were not as enthralled by the prospect of leasing the battery-powered MINI E as Americans. While some 10,000 drivers were reported to have applied for the privilege of paying MINI to beta test the EV, only 515 wanted in on the UK test. Of those 40 were chosen, half of which are private users.
While Americans have to pay $850 per month for a year, British drivers get off with only £330 a month (approx $640 U.S.) for six months. All of the UK-based MINI Es will be in the southern part of the country, mostly between Oxford, London and Andover. Oxford is, of course, the site of the MINI factory and home base to the little cars. The cars will be delivered before Christmas and, hopefully, charging cords and wall boxes will be in place before the cars arrive.
Gallery: Electric MINI E
[Source: AutoExpress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Edward Mulcare 9:13AM (10/14/2009)
Who cares? Sell the damn thing to the public already. Let's get this EV show on the road.
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nrb 11:04AM (10/14/2009)
They'd loose too much money with any real volume.
This way they can make a prototype look like it's in production.
Steve 12:53AM (10/16/2009)
Yep. When can I buy one? I haven't heard of any significant (or any, for that matter) problems with the Mini E. This could BMW's chance to be the first major automaker to release a fully functional plug-in electric. The average income of Mini Cooper owners is $125,000/yr... I'm sure they could find plenty of buyers, even at the $40,000 - $60,000 price point.
Mark Kiernan 1:01PM (10/14/2009)
They are ripping off the public. I would laugh if someone stole one of these cars, retrofitted it with a smaller battery pack and drove it without telling BMW.
These cars may never be sold, BMW is a sucker for diesel, you won't see a BMW EV until 2015 at the earliest.
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Steve Hollman 6:19AM (10/15/2009)
Can you actually see – and pinpoint – a shift in the balance of power? It appears so!
Check out this post
http://amicars.blogspot.com/2009/10/can-you-actually-see-and-pinpoint-shift.html
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