What's the news?
We all know it was MINI that launched the whole concept of car personalisation - contrast colour roofs, decorative graphics, endless combinations at ordering time. Well, the company has taken things to the next step with the MINI Yours Customised range of products, to be launched throughout 2018.
Available on various MINI models, this really IS personalisation for your car - you can have your name engraved into side scuttles or projected on door puddle lamps, or even a cityscape of your favourite place embossed into the dash panel.
It's all come about thanks to the use of 3D printing and laser lettering, allowing for the manufacture of side scuttles, trims, illuminated door sills and LED door projectors in a design created by the customer. Buyers can select, design and order the upgrade parts at a specially designed Online Shop for Yours Customised, which means that - when the time comes to sell the car - the branded bits can be taken off again and replaced with non-personalised OEM items.
While there are a stock set of images, colours, patterns, surface finishes and icons to choose from in the Yours Customised product catalogue, the opportunity to add your own texts or even your signature to the parts and then have them displayed in your MINI is what makes the difference here. A whole new distribution chain has been installed by MINI for direct sales to the customer and, once you've created your own design, you can then share it with a screenshot and link for use in social media, to inspire the cabins and exteriors of other MINI owners.
Anything else?
MINI is claiming that the individual parts will be delivered to customers within just a few weeks of them being ordered, and you can either have a go at fitting them yourself or you can take the car to a participating MINI service partner. There's also no limit on how many Yours Customised parts you want, so you can repeat the process time and time again if you get bored of your first dashboard design, or if you want several alternatives.