Paul Smith is no stranger to lending his touches to automobiles and he is certainly no stranger to MINI. Last seen last summer with the Paul Smith x MINI Strip Car, the name behind one of the U.K. iconic brands is back to inject his style into yet another MINI.
This time, Sir Paul Smith and MINI revisited an old project between the British icons: the 1998 MINI Paul Smith Edition created over 20 years ago, limited to 1,800 units.
Once again, the collab took the sustainable route by converting the prototype of the 1998 automobile into an electric vehicle under the MINI Recharged program.
The bright blue paint job, which was based on a swatch taken from one of Paul Smith’s favorite shirts, was retained.
Under the hood, the petrol unit is ditched in favor of a 72-kW electric motor. Electric drive isn’t the only sustainable element with the MINI Recharged 1998 MINI Paul Smith.
Like the MINI Strip, trim parts were deliberately left out, leaving the bodyshell bare and the floor pan unclad with only rustic floor mats made of recycled rubber on top. There are more:
“In addition to innovative, resource-saving materials, Paul Smith’s design leaves out entire instruments in other places: a magnet next to the steering wheel accommodates the smartphone, which, apart from the speedometer, replaces almost all the old buttons and functions on the dashboard.”
Another interesting feature of this exclusive model is, the steering wheel can be completely removed to allow for easy getting in and out of the car.
The MINI Recharged by Paul Smith was presented at the Salone Del Mobile 2022 (June 7- June 12, 2022) in Milan, Italy.
All images courtesy of BMW Group.
