Forward-looking concept by fashion star
Strip concept, by Paul Smith, sets out new Mini themes of sustainability and function
Mini has teamed up with British fashion designer Paul Smith – known in motoring circles for his brightly coloured takes on the original Mini – to create the Strip, a pared-back one-off that emphasises the firm’s sustainability ambitions.
It follows the Urbanaut concept, revealed in 2020, as another statement of intent for Mini’s future as a maker of simple and sustainable cars with an emphasis on utility and efficiency.
Unlike the Urbanaut, the Strip is related to the Mini Electric, with the principles of “simplicity, transparency and sustainability” guiding Smith’s makeover of the car.
As its name suggests, the Strip concept does away with many of the standard car’s features and adopts several unique design cues in the pursuit of weight reduction and pure functionality. Only elements deemed “absolutely necessary” by Smith remain.
Most obviously, the Strip goes without a productionspec paint finish. It has just a thin layer of transparent paint to prevent rust and features exposed grinding marks from the factory. Mini says this gives “a minimalist, high-class design with a fresh and unconventional appeal”. Smith, meanwhile, refers to the unrefined finish as “the perfect imperfection”.
The Strip does retain its contrasting black plastic body trim, but it is 3D-printed using recycled plastic and decorated with exposed screw heads, which aim to show how easily the car could be dismantled and recycled at the end of its usable life. The grille, blanked off to reduce drag, is made from recycled Perspex to save more weight, and so are the aero-optimised wheel covers and the panoramic sunroof.
The transformation is even more drastic inside, where all unnecessary trim has been removed and attention is drawn to the bare metal bodyshell by bright blue paint.
The largely featureless dashboard consists of a single-piece, semi-transparent panel. Although the circular recess for Mini’s characteristic central speedo remains, it now houses a smartphone, which connects automatically to the car and becomes the “media control centre”. The only physical controls that remain are those used for the windows and start/stop system.
Conventional materials such as leather and chrome are absent from the cabin, with the seats finished in a recyclable knitted fabric, and the floor mats are recycled rubber. The dashboard top, door panels and parcel shelf are finished in recycled cork, which, Mini says, “could provide a substitute for foamed plastics in future” due to its firmness and soft-touch feel. A positive side effect, the firm notes, is that cork and knitted fabric are open-pore materials that “enhance interior acoustics”.
Elsewhere, the driver’s airbag is visible through the mesh centre of the minimalist steering wheel, which is wrapped in handlebar tape rather than synthetic leather. Mesh is also used for the door panels so the innards are almost fully exposed. Climbing rope, coloured orange to match the seatbelts, acts as the interior door handles. The airbags in the roof are on show, too, as is the car’s wiring loom, drawing attention “to functions that are normally concealed”, Mini says.
There is no production intent for the Strip, but Mini is keen for it to demonstrate the feasibility of sustainable car manufacturing and design. Earlier this year, Mini built a physical version of the Urbanaut concept, having previously shown it as a digital render only. That car also puts a strong emphasis on sustainability, with a flexible, minimalist cabin and a focus on using space efficiently.