New MINI Logo to Appear on Products From March 2018

The MINI brand has today introduced an all-new logo that will appear on its products from March 2018 onward.

The new logo takes on a “flat” appearance, replacing the three-dimensional black, silver and white logo that has been featured on MINI products since the brand relaunch in 2001. The automaker says it deliberately avoided using any shading or grey tones, leaving a contrasting black-and-white logo that “conveys the authenticity and clarity of the new brand identity.” Its two-dimensional look will also allow for universal application on MINI vehicles and other branded products.

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The wheel and wing combination that makes up this new logo, and the silver and black logo that predates it, harks back to the early years of the MINI. The original 1959 MINI bared the logo of the British Motor Corporation’s Morris brand, which featured a red Ox and three blue waves inside of a circle with two wings jetting out from either side. Ten years later, when the BMC’s sister brands let go of their respective Mini-based models (Austin Mini, Wolseley Hornet and Riley Elf), the vehicle was officially given the ‘Mini’ shield badge, which remained in use for decades. When a new version of the vehicle was rolled out in 1990, it was given a throwback logo to the original Morris wing logo, which serves as the inspiration for this new logo and the one previous.

BMW says this logo change reflects its future commitment to the MINI brand. We know the automaker is looking at introducing electric vehicles and may even turn into a pure electric brand here in North America, so it seems as though adopting this flat, more modern-looking logo is part of the slow brand transformation expected to happen over the coming years.

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