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The Mini is 50 years old today

  Today - 08/05/2009 - is the 50th anniversary of the first Mini rolling off the production line. To celebrate, and for a bit of free publicity (see, we’re playing the game) BMW has shipped the first Mini to roll of the production line back to Cowley to celebrate (picture at the bottom). 621 AOK, a Mini Minor, in Old English White, looks as fresh as the day it rolled off the production line half a century ago (although I wouldn’t mind betting it doesn’t have it’s original sills – they always rusted through – or copes with its original distributor and leads – one splash of rain and the car ground to a halt!).

Daimler considers building Mercedes C-class in U.S.

Daimler AG could move some production of the Mercedes-Benz C-class to the United States from Germany, a German newspaper reported Wednesday. The Stuttgarter Zeitung said some C-class production could be transferred to the carmaker's plant in Vance, Ala., from Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, as part of a wider production shakeup planned by Daimler to reduce costs. In the future, the C-class sedan could be built in three locations: Bremen, Germany; Vance, Ala., and in China, the newspaper said.

MINI Countryman Cooper & Paceman Cooper get ALL4 4WD

The MINI Countryman Cooper (pictured) & Paceman Cooper get ALL4 4WD We always find it astonishing that car makers ‘ration’ the availability of four wheel drive platforms in their cars, usually citing a ‘lack of demand’. But that lack of demand is usually predicated on the lack of supply, and increasing the supply of 4WD cars would see more sold, especially after a series of harsh winters where many motorists struggled to keep their cars in a straight line. So the decision by BMW to extend the availability of their ALL4 4WD setup to a wider range of MINIs is welcome, with the petrol Countryman Cooper and Paceman Cooper now getting the ALL4 option too.