The Mini Cooper has been one of the models on the market that gives us a unique and signature look and style along with the performance we expect from this small model that can be great on the road. As the automotive market progresses toward hybrid and EV models the need to have some that are built lighter and still offer the power we want is important to the next drive we’re going to want to have on the road. This allows us to think it would be a good idea for Mini to give the go-ahead to one group of students that has come up with an impressive idea for the ride.
The new concept vehicle is one that rides on a RWD platform with a rear-engine layout that a Cooper could be built on. It is a concept that was brought to fruition by sixteen engineers at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research and it’s called the Deep Orange 7. This is the program’s seventh concept car and it is one that could be the Mini Cooper of 2025 if the brand were to choose it for the model for the brand which is a lot like the Mini Vision Next 100 Concept that we’ve already seen.
What is the Deep Orange 7?
In conjunction with design students from California’s Art Center College of Design, this new concept car was built with a modular carbon fiber body that is made from four major pieces while avoiding the use of a unibody or composite tub build. The roof and floor pan serve as connecting points for the parts to allow the vehicle to be redesigned for two-door, four-door, and convertible body styles to give you the quality and build that could be the future of the automotive world.
There are three different battery packs of different sizes that can be used on the flat floor without intruding into the passenger area of the car. There is also a gasoline-powered rear engine version that uses a manual transmission to give a drive that purists could enjoy. This team is also working to put manual transmissions in the plug-in hybrid models of the concept cars they build as well to make it possible to have the incredible fuel mileage while also enjoying the ride in a vehicle that allows you to row your own gears at the same time.
This isn’t the first time the master’s degree engineering program has created models for different brands as there have been models developed for BMW, Toyota, Mazda, and Chevrolet in the past. This new model might be the one that Mini chooses to take on and build to offer us a new Mini Cooper of the future. Right now, these students are working on the eighth and ninth concepts that will add an autonomous motion board and a rally car to the mix to give us something even more interesting to talk about. I can’t wait to see more of what this team offers us to experience the quality and the ride we want when we drive on the road.
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