With its dominating colours Silver, White and Black, the MINI 50 Camden even at very first sight highlights its technical clarity and sporting character. Body paint in White Silver metallic is combined with a white roof, and the MINI 50 Camden is also available in Midnight Black metallic or Horizon Blue metallic.
The 17-inch light-alloy rims likewise exclusive to this model stand out in particular through the contrast between their silver inner surfaces and the matt, polished contour lines around the rim hump and on the outer edges of the spokes, thus characterising the futuristic impression of this likewise very special model.
With its lines extending towards the A-pillars, the sporting, almost three-dimensional silver stripe trim on the side shoulders of the engine compartment lid accentuate the sporting and dynamic character of the MINI 50 Camden.
Like on the MINI 50 Mayfair, the mirror caps come in twin-tone stripes extending upwards on the MINI 50 Camden merging from silver into pure white. In combination with the xenon headlights featured as standard on the MINI Cooper S 50 Camden, the headlights themselves boast black-tinted lenses as a particularly progressive highlight forming a clear contrast to the rest of the exterior in its brighter colour.
The side indicator frames house the Union Jack in black-and-white and the "Camden" model designation forming the logo of this special anniversary model also to be admired, together with the designation "MINI 50", on the door entry trim.
The interior of the MINI 50 Camden comes in an equally contrasting colour scheme combining the Carbon Black interior colour with special trim on the instrument panel interchanging from white to silver, like the caps on the exterior mirrors.
The trim panels on the doors, in turn, come in Fluid Silver, while the sports seats in cloth/Ray leather boast leather surfaces, just like the bottom edge of the instrument panel and the armrests in the door linings, finished in Tech White.
The black centre strips on the doors, in turn, come in a discreet pattern with interrupted white stripes, while the seat panels on the inner half of the backrests bear the "Camden" logo.
Twin-tone double-cap seams – black on the outside, turquoise-green on the inside – visually combine the leather and cloth surfaces on the seats. Green and white seams also provide additional colour highlights on the black gaiters around the handbrake and gearshift levers, and on the gearshift lever knob.
The rim on the leather steering wheel is highlighted additionally by a white seam, while turquoise-green colour highlights as well as design lines on the mirror caps and the trim surfaces to be admired on both the MINI 50 Mayfair and the MINI 50 Camden come as a common feature shared by both anniversary models.
Highly exclusive but featured as standard:
HiFi system and Mission Control.
In addition to the particularly wide range of standard features on the two anniversary models, the MINI 50 Camden also features a top-end audio system. This new HiFi system from car audio specialist Harman Kardon sets standards for enjoying music in a MINI. The high-performance digital amplifier, for example, just like the loudspeaker units, is perfectly tailored to the MINI.
An optional feature is a USB port for connecting external audio sources and a special interface for an Apple iPod. And last but not least, the customer also has the choice of an interface for integrated control of the car's audio and telephone functions on the latest Smartphones such as the Apple iPhone.
The market launch of the new MINI 50 Camden also marks the debut of a new generation of in-car entertainment systems. Referred to as "Mission Control", this entertainment system processes and evaluates a wide range of signals on the vehicle itself, on driving conditions, and the surroundings, providing the driver with relevant information and instructions in that unique style so typical of MINI.
Mission Control underlines the status of the MINI as a genuine personality in the world of motoring and intensifies the driver‘s feeling and impression of interacting directly with the car, the signals coming from the car itself being used to generate new, situation-based dialogues time and again.
These dialogues are based, among other things, on information regarding safety and comfort settings, requesting the driver and passengers, say, to buckle up their seat belts and use the air conditioning, and incorporate current information on driving conditions such as the current status of the vehicle, with the focus on temperatures or the level of fuel in the tank criteria such as outside.
The heart of Mission Control is the electronic control unit fitted behind the glove compartment and interacting with the car's data network. This serves to collect all information relevant to the system and generate appropriate voice messages. Depending on the car's level of equipment, up to 120 different driving conditions, traffic situations and other events are covered in this way, providing a range of 15-40 different messages.
This wide range of messages guarantees an ongoing, highly efficient dialogue between the MINI and its driver also in driving situations recurring daily, Mission Control therefore being able to offer more than 1,500 different messages.
Messages are provided the world over in English as the mother tongue of MINI. In this process three characters clearly different from one another through their voices share the task of communicating with the driver. To support the Coach as the main speaker mainly addressing the driver himself, two Assistants offer helpful information on driving and traffic conditions as well as the comfort functions of the MINI.
The carefully matched and interacting messages provided by these three characters give the driver and his passengers both lively entertainment and useful information they may sometimes take with a twinkle in their eye. Depending on the time of day, for example, Mission Control will welcome the driver and his passengers with various messages. Should you set off with the handbrake pulled or a door not properly closed, on the other hand, Mission Control will again provide an appropriate warning, just as it will tell the driver not to rev up too fast while the engine is still warming up.
Mission Control also comments on the driver's sporting style of motoring in bends as well as the actual use of the Auto Start Stop function for extra efficiency. At high speeds, finally, Mission Control will tell the driver and passengers to close the windows in the interest of better aerodynamics. And should the driver and passengers have opened the sliding roof, they will be instructed to switch off the air conditioning in order to save energy.
In addition to the entertainment aspect, the system offers a functional aspect supporting the driver over and above existing functions in properly interpreting all kinds of information and using data for appropriate action.
Given these qualities, Mission Control is the first step into a brand-new world of interactive in-car entertainment, offering a driving experience never seen before.
Source: MINI
