Friday, April 1, 2016

Mini Gets Scissor Doors As Optional Equipment


There is nothing worse than finding the one parking spot available in a parking garage, just to find that once you squeeze into it, you can’t open the doors enough to get out. Mini has decided to combat that scenario straight on and offer scissor doors as an option on Mini models going forward.

According to the brand’s press release, scissor doors will initially be available as an option on the Mini 3 door, Mini Paceman, and Mini Convertible. Come the 2017 model year, the option will be extended to the Mini 5 door, six-door Clubman, and the Mini Countryman. The doors will be electrohydraulically controlled, and will reduce the space needed for parking and easy entry/exit by nearly 30 percent. The Mini 3 door, for instance, will now require a parking spot width of just 1,930 mm when equipped with scissor doors, as opposed to the 2,681 mm that is required with regular hinged doors.

The feature comes standard with the ability to open and close the doors with a remote control, but for an addition premium, the scissor doors can be equipped with “Comfort Access,” which will allow the door to be opened by a button on the door handle. According to Dalf Rietmann, the Head of Special Equipment Management with Mini, the plan is to eventually allow the opening and closing of the scissor doors via a smartphone app.

In the safety side of things, the doors are also equipped with something call Pyrotechnic Emergency Exit (PEE,) which uses powerful propellants to blast the doors off of the vehicle in the event of an emergency, allowing first responders to have easy and fast access to passengers. The new scissor doors will be available at a premium of €1,959, which is $2,230 at current exchange rates.

Continue reading for the full story.





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