MINI One and MINI Cooper went on sale in the UKin July 2001. The MINI Cooper S joined the ranks in the summer of 2002 and the MINI One D added frugality to the kart-like driving in 2003. Also that year, the first tuning kits from John Cooper Garages were launched for the Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S. 2004 saw the re-introduction of top-down Mini driving with the arrival of the phenomenally successful MINI Convertible that shot straight to the top of the UK drop-top charts.  It was joined that year by a freshened up Mini range.

The MINI One Seven, Cooper Park Lane and Cooper S Checkmate debuted in the autumn of ’05 with the first generation Mini signing off in some style in the summer of 2006 with the sold-out MINI GP, or to give it its grown-up name, the Mini Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP kit. 459 Mini GPs came to the UKand were snapped up before they even went on sale.

Over 50,000 people visited the UK’s 150 Mini dealerships during the car’s opening weekend in July 2001 and by August 2006, Mini had achieved the 200,000 sales landmark in the UK.

1,000,000 MINIs have been built within six years and, interestingly, after a near-identically comparable time period as the original Mini. History repeats itself as the UK(inc. Ireland) remained the number one market in the world for Mini in 2006.

But Mini has crossed the oceans and made a bigger splash around the globe than the original. It is now sold in over 70 countries worldwide.  The UK, USA, Germany, Italyand Japanare expected to make up the car’s top five markets in 2007 and have been major contributors to the fact that in less than six years Mini has become the third largest motor manufacturer in the UK.

And as the sales racked up, so did the awards and accolades. Not just the traditional ‘Best Car’ gongs in the first year or two, though Mini has walked off with its fair share of those. MINI’s trophy cabinet bulges with awards presented throughout its first five years to its production, body styles, and ownership prospects.

Even in the Mini hatch’s final year, the first generation new Mini won awards for ‘Best Sporty Car’ (2006 What Car? used car of the year awards), ‘Car Manufacturer of the Year 2005’ (Autocar awards), and ‘Best Used Car Scheme’ (2006 Auto Express Used Car Honours).

Conservative estimates put MINI’s trophy total at over 200 by the summer of 2006. In the UKalone it has won best car or best small car awards from the likes of Auto Express, Car, The Times, The Independent, Channel 4’s Driven, BBC Top Gear, News of the World, and The Sun.

The second-generation new Mini has already repeated some of that success winning awards from Top Gear and What Car? The first generation Mini gave the new model a great foundation on which to build and with its new engines, improved specification, and better use of space, the new Mini will be even more successful.