Since it's inception in 1959, the Mini remained in production without a model change until Britain’s ‘Little Giant’ rolled off the line for the last time in 2000. The Rover Mini as it was referred to in Japan has since become known as the ‘Classic Mini’ since the modern relaunch of the ‘New Mini’ associated with BMW. However, the history of the Mini begins with the Morris Mini Minor and its twin brother ‘Austin Seven’ (name changed to Austin Mini in 1962). Due to organizational changes coinciding with minor modifications, the car name was unified to ‘Mini’ in October 1969. Up until then, the only difference between the two models was the brand badge and grille design.

Mini’s greatest innovation over 60 years ago was to create the highly efficient blueprint for modern compact cars. With a length of about 3 meters, 4 adults could be accommodated inside the Mini’s small body, which was groundbreaking at the time. The Mini was also the world’s first production passenger car to feature front wheel drive with a horizontally mounted 848cc engine, another legacy of Mini design. While the Mini first went on sale with only the saloon (2 box) body type, the van/estate and the high-performance Cooper later extended the lineup together with sedan and jeep-type models as the Mini reached the peak of its lifecycle.