Mini concept cars

There have been a number of Mini concept cars, produced to show future ideas and forthcoming models at international motorshows.

From 1967 to 1979, Alec Issigonis worked on designing a replacement for the Mini in the form of an experimental model called the 9X. Due to politicking inside British Leyland (which had now been formed by the merger of BMC's parent company British Motor Holdings and the Leyland Motor Corporation), the car never reached production.

The 9X addressed many of the engineering flaws in Issigonis' original design- namely its complexity, its harsh ride and its poor mechanical refinement caused by the gearbox-in-sump layout. The final fully engineered prototype had a shorter wheelbase than the Mini but was three inches shorter overall. It was also slightly wider and offered significantly more interior space plus a hatchback body. The separate subframes of the Mini were removed and the body frame construction greatly simplified- the 9X required less than half the number of individual parts to build than a Mini.

The power unit was an all-new four-cylinder design with a belt-driven overhead camshaft. The crankcase and cylinder head were made from aluminium alloy while the block was of cast iron, with all three sections being held together by long through-bolts. This was identical construction to the original Austin Seven's engine and similar ideas would be revisted in the 1980s for the Rover K-Series engine. Capacity in the prototype was 1000cc with versions as low as 750cc possible, as well as six-cylinder versions which would still be compact enough to install transversely. Power output was 60 horsepower per litre (as opposed to around 40 hp/litre for the existing A-Series engine) and the new engine was also significantly lighter. To reduce maintenance and the number of parts the engine's alternator was incorporated into the flywheel (a common practice on motorcycles).

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