The original 1959 British Motors Corporation Mini had the simplest possible car interior.
British design at the time was all about efficiency and doing the most with the least. Mini designers were more concerned with using the same grade of oil for the engine and the gearbox (the Suez crisis, you see) than with designing something ergonomically planned and cute.
But the people of today love cute. And, in our time, designers have learned how to take inspiration from the spare icons of old and build ergonomically planned, cute, lovable designs that people crave to own.
So, the 1959 Mini Mark I and the 2025 Mini Cooper Hardtop will share their basic interior layout. The first was austere, hard, and cheap to build. The second is lavish, soft, and high-tech. But they share the same three elements.
Still Just Three Elements
In 1959, that meant a big bakelite steering wheel, a single round gauge mounted in the center, and a toggle bar beneath hosting a few switches. In 2025, it will mean a small-diameter steering wheel, a huge circular touchscreen conveying all the information a modern car gives you, and a toggle bar beneath hosting buttons and knobs for climate control, hazard lights, and the like.
The two are so similar that Mini posted a cute video to Instagram showing the old morphing into the new, like Bruce Banner growing into the Hulk.
But Today, They’re High-Tech and Plush
Yet, they’re so different that the modern version uses a soft dashboard covered in quilted fabric with lights that shine through it, playing greeting animations. And, lest you’re worried about relying on only the big round screen, the dashboard seems equipped with a tiny, transparent screen in front of the driver. It would be the first see-through screen we’ve seen in a production car if it’s real.
We’re still awaiting other details on the 2025 edition of the Mini. Parent company BMW (a lot has changed since 1959) has said the brand will be all-electric by the end of the decade. Mini recently showed off an electric version of its larger Countryman SUV meant for 2025. The brand tends to share just a few powertrains between many models, so we expect to see the same 191-horsepower setup offered in this one.
But the Oxford plant that builds internal-combustion-powered Minis shows no signs of slowing down, so you’ll probably be able to get a gas-powered Mini in 2025, too. We’ll bring more details as the company releases them – which should be soon now that they’re dribbling out details like this.
