The 1st day of the MINI Takes The States Tour kicked off with a bit of a surprise – it turned out that a MINI press car was unable to take me from Newark Airport to our first destination, so I had to slum it in a BMW 550i. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited.

Unfortunately, the 550i’s nav system took me in the opposite direction from New York, nearly sending me to Camden, New Jersey, ranked America’s most dangerous city in 2009. Not exactly the kind of place you want to take a brand new Bimmer.

All was resolved thanks to a local friend who laughed at my inept sense of direction and set me on course for Manhattan’s Meat Packing District. I set forth for MILK Studios, a gallery space where MINI was hosting a launch event for the new 4-door Countryman SUV, as well as the launch point of the Eastern leg of the MINI Takes The States Tour.

Once I hit Manhattan, I began to wish for a Mini Cooper S to help weave through the atrocious traffic. Being an admitted small car guy (my Miata keys in my pocket), the 5 Series was not my ideal vehicle, though I was kept in air conditioned, HD Radio’d comfort for the few hours (yes, hours) it took me to get from Newark to Downtown Manhattan.

Keep reading more MINI Takes the States Tour, Day 1: New York after the jump:

MINI fans will be able to preview the new MINI Countryman as the brand kicks off the MINI Takes The States rally in different locations across the United States starting tomorrow.

San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and New York City will play host to the start points, and Autoguide will be in New York to cover the events leading off from the East Coast leg of the rally. Autoguide will be on hand for stops in Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, Columbus and Indianapolis, Autoguide staffer Derek Kreindler will cover events such as the Countryman launch party, a visit to the sports car collection at the Simeone Museum, participate in an autocross in Baltimore, lap the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and hang out with MINI owners along at various stops along the way.

Be sure to follow @ Autoguide on Twitter for line coverage, and check the blog for in-depth updates.

Hit the jump to see the official press release

MINI has officially announced that it will enter the World Rally Championship (WRC) next year, teaming up with Prodrive and running a Countryman crossover. The MINI Countryman WRC is being developed by the legendary Prodrive race team (which helped Subaru win six championships) to run part of the 2011 season as it prepares for a full 2012 season of competition.

The modified Countryman model will meet new FIA Super2000 regulations, using a turbocharged 1.6-liter 4-cylinder BMW Motorsport engine, mated to MINI’s new All4 all-wheel drive system.

In the future, MINI will offer the Countryman WRC model to customer teams, so expand the number of MINIs competing in rally racing internationally.

Rumors suggest several well-known drivers may compete for the official MINI team, including Mads Ostberg and Marcus Gronholm.

Official release after the jump:

If you’re going to hit the red carpet, you’d better be dressed by a designer. And not just any designer will do – it has to be household names. It’s a good thing MINI kept this in mind as it strutted its stuff down the red carpet in Vienna.

Rumors that MINI will enter the World Rally Championship have been swirling for almost a year now, but that could all end later this week. According to the most recent reports, MINI will confirm its intentions to join the WRC series later this week with renowned British racing firm Prodrive set to take over operations of the team.

MINI will unveil a new concept car at the Geneva Auto Show next March that will foreshadow a future model to slot in underneath the current Cooper range and compete with the likes of the Smart fortwo and Toyota iQ. Possibly called the MINI Minor, the concept car will be based on a shortened version of the current hatchback platform, although it’s not known if a production model would continue to use such a layout. The car wouldn’t be a four-seater, either (not that the current MINI really is anyway), but instead either offer just two seats, or a 3-seat layout like the iQ.

MINI‘s Countryman SUV is likely going to have some tough competition from the Nissan Juke, but the announcement of some specifications for the newest MINI should take away from some of the buzz that Nissan’s strange-looking crossover has been enjoying.

After the positive reception given to the Beachcomber concept, MINI is interested in bringing a similar model to market, but one that could take the form of a 3-door Countryman. According to BMW company insider Scott27, MINI just doesn’t see a market for the Beachcomber concept, due to its 4-doors and niche-market appeal – namely, guys with suftboards.

The original Mini was an immensely popular car in Japan, and the new one seems to be doing well in its position as a “premium” compact car. To help generate excitement after 4 years of the same body style, MINI is launching the Saville Row edition, which, ironically, is only available in Japan.

MINI has just officially taken the wraps off its refreshed 2011 lineup of models and while we’re sure the MINI-faithful will debate the changes for months and years to come, were not sure most folks will notice the difference. It’s a good think the original design of the car is timeless.

With Porsche refusing to take part in MINI‘s challenge to race at Road Atlanta (which was neither a real race, nor actually on the track at Road Atlanta), MINI decided to go ahead and stage the comparo anyway. And the plucky British automaker… lost?

That’s right, the MINI Cooper S couldn’t best the German juggernaut Porsche 911 – which comes as no surprise to anyone as the Porsche costs almost twice the price and has roughly double the horsepower. The autocross track the MINI devised to give the Cooper S an advantage helped, but not enough to secure a victory, with the Porsche still completing the course 2 seconds ahead. MINI likes to point out that each one of those seconds costs an additional $38,000.

Regardless, the entire marketing gimmick was a stroke of genius by the folks at MINI, attracting a ton of attention to the brand and drawing a comparison between the Cooper and 911 which reflects positively on MINI. (It’s a propaganda technique, read the section titled “Trasfer” here. Who said a philosophy degree was useless?)

To see how the whole thing went down and for several more videos about the event, see after the jump:

[Source: Facebook]

See the videos:

By now were sure you’ve heard about MINI‘s challenge to Porsche to come out and race at Road Atlanta. A genius piece of marketing no doubt, but it appears two can play at this game as Hyundai has just turned the tables on MINI in a new YouTube video, offering to step in for the timid German juggernaut.

Commenting that “We’d be happy to show you the line at Road Atlanta, where we laid down our Epic Lap” Super Bowl commercial, Hyundai has thrown down the gauntlet and, quite frankly, after the incessant taunting MINI has given to Porsche, we’re not sure the fun British brand can refuse.

Hyundai does admit that they won’t be able to make the planned June 21st even, stating that their hired-hitman racer Rhys Millen will be out attempting to set a Pikes Peak world record in a a Genesis-powered race car. Instead the Korean underdog has suggested July.

We’re sure MINI didn’t foresee this when they cooked up the MINI vs. Porsche challenge and right about now they’re probably regretting they did.

See the video after the jump:

MINI is set to join the World Rally Championship in 2012, competing with the new Countryman crossover. Rumors to this extent swirled just ahead of the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year where the Countryman was unveiled, but nothing ever came of it. The MINI fans at MotoringFile say the project is still in the pipes and the race cars crossovers will debut some time this year (or next) for competition in 2012.

It’s possibly the best 80’s montage of them all; yes, we’re talking about the training scene from Rocky IV where the underdog Balboa trains in a wooden hut in the Russian countryside while Captain Ivan Drago (aka, Dolf Lungren) pumps up on steroids and makes use of the world’s most sophisticated machines to tone his body.

Well, in MINI’s continued bid to taunt Porsche into a showdown at Road Atlanta, the fun-loving (and internet marketing savvy) folks at MINI have teamed up with the comedy geniuses at FunnyorDie to produce a parody of the epic montage that is sure to pump you up. It’s no surprise that the part of Rocky is played by a MINI and that those overly serious Russians are played by overly serious folks from Porsche.

And we thought the Ford Fiesta campaign was smart online marketing.

[Source: FunnyorDie]

See the video after the jump:

In a recent interview MINI design boss Adrian van Hooydonk admitted that the BMW sub-brand is looking at expanding with new models in the future. “Because Mini is on the threshold of turning into a proper brand, we will be looking at a pallet of models for the future,” he told AutoCar.

Exploiting social media for all it’s worth, MINI isn’t about to let up on its David vs Golliath challenge. As we’re sure you recall, MINI recently challenged Porsche to a race at Road Atlanta. Porsche subsequently declined, trading MINI’s fun jabs for biting disdain of the fun British brand. (Funny, we always thought German’s were known for there sense of humor).

Now MINI USA boss Jim McDowell is back, using Facebook and YouTube to once again coax Porsche to a race, offering better prizes than before to the winner – including a pair of Justin Bieber tickets.

We’re all but certain Porsche will once again decline, but it doesn’t really matter. Either way, MINI is coming out of this on top, with tons of publicity and lots of laughs. And even if Porsche accepted and MINI lost, it would still be a positive for MINI, just that Porsche would even acknowledge that MINI is a competitor.

It’s for that exact reason that we can’t ever seen Porsche accepting. In fact, we can already predict the response will have something to do with Porsche’s recent class win at Le Mans.

See the video after the jump:

MINI’s challenge to race their Cooper S against a Porsche at Road Atlanta didn’t go over so well. The publicity stunt initiated by MINI USA’s Jim McDowell was met with a terse and dismissive response by Porsche Cars North America CEO Detlev Von Platen today, as he issued a statement where he declined McDowell’s challenge, and invited them to come play with the big boys at places like Sebring and LeMans.

McDowell has previously challenged Porsche to attend a race at Road Atlanta on June 21st, pitting the Mini Cooper S against a Porsche 911 Carrera S. The terms of the race were unspecified, and no further information was given beyond McDowell’s vague challenge.

To view Porsche’s response, hit the jump

[Source: The Truth About Cars]