New Mini wins US Car of the Year award

The updated version of the Mini, whose diminutive dimensions have been a symbol of British motoring since 1959, has won a top accolade in a continent renowned for its love of monster automobiles.

The new Mini Cooper, made by the German giant BMW, has been named North America Car of the Year at the Detroit motor show.

The old Mini, which starred with Michael Caine in The Italian Job in 1969, was handicapped by a a cramped interior. It never got beyond cult status in the United States and was withdrawn from that market in 1967 after seven years of disappointing sales.

Formerly owned by Rover and British Leyland, the Mini marque caused protests three years ago when BMW sold its subsidiary Rover but kept hold of its prize asset, which it produces at Cowley in Oxford. The new version was feted by motoring experts and was an instant success in Britain, a hit repeated in America.

BMW has sold 25,000 Minis since it was launched there last March, despite concerns over how it would be received. The Mini beat 11 other finalists to the award in Detroit, including the BMW 7-Series, the Honda Accord, the Nissan 350Z and Pontiac Vibe. It was judged the best for innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for money.

A spokeswoman for Mini said there had been questions about how the car would sell in America because it was so different to what drivers there were used to. "It is quite a lot bigger than the old Mini but it is still a small car," she said. "It has an international appeal and the history is part of it. Mini means a lot to a lot of people but there is no typical Mini buyer."

Since the first new Minis left the production line at Cowley in April 2001, 140,000 have been sold worldwide, including 46,600 in Britain.