BMW MINI will show a limited-edition (just 1000 examples) Cooper S at Auto Shanghai 2011. The car will be 'built under the guidance of the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars designer team'.

Which means its assembly is likely to be carried out at the company’s Oxford plant, yet many components will originate from the craftsmen at the Goodwood Rolls-Royce factory. Items such as the Burr Walnut dashboard and door handle surfaces, for example.

No price has been revealed by MINI (it could well hit £50k in the UK) but the lavish specification recalls the Wood & Pickett-modified cars of the 60s. Many trim components of the - some would say ‘over-styled’ - small car have been replaced by more luxurious fittings. The dashboard, including the surrounds of the central instrument and the air vents, the centre console, carpet surfaces, the Lounge leather seats, roof-lining and door, side and body pillar cladding are all new, and many finished in the exclusive Rolls-Royce colour ‘Cornsilk’.

The Burr Walnut dash is complemented by a black, Nappa leather dashboard top, while piano black is used for many of the instrument buttons. The roof-lining is cashmere, a material also used on the sun-visor linings and rear storage tray. Deep-pile lambswool carpet over-mats will cosset the occupants’ expensively pedicured tootsies.

Just one colour is available: the Rolls-Royce shade ‘Diamond Black Metallic’. The running gear and l.6-litre, 184bhp turbocharged four-cylinder are from the very latest version of the MINI Cooper S, although a non-vented bonnet is used as it's more in keeping with the 'classic' look of the car.

In addition to special 17in alloy wheels, the ‘Inspired by Goodwood’ Cooper S has, as standard: Xenon Adaptive Headlights; Park Distance Control; automatic air conditioning; an onboard computer; and the audio system Radio MINI Visual Boost, which includes a Harman Kardon hi-fi speaker system.

Text: Steve Wakefield
Photos: MINI