Another great person that we got to speak with was Gert Hildebrand. He is the man in charge of making the MINI look as cool as it does!
There is still more audio coming gang! Todd will be working furiously during his travels home so we can get those posted right away! Be sure to check out the photos if you haven’t already over at the MINI United Flickr Group.
Gert interview:
Download | 16.8MB | 20:21
ANOTHER GREAT INTERVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s good to hear Gert speak about Design Theory and how he expects his designers and himself to find inspiration in everything they see and do – not just car design.
As a designer, I live by all the inspirations in my daily life and it’s good to hear the guys at MINI are doing the same. I’m also glad that he’s a supporter of doing things by hand with pencil and paper over jumping right onto the computer.
Finally, I’m glad you asked him about that center stack! Not only was his answer straight and honest, but I’m glad to hear that he is listening to the MINI customers.
What a great interview. I’m humbled to think he reads our comments, that’s just so wonderful. It really sounds like Gert is one of us!
I’m so happy to hear there is no desire to turn MINI’s into a commodity / mass-produced brand. I really enjoyed listening and actually feel great comfort in hearing that MINI wants us to keep our cars for a long time and their goal is to produce cars that we want to keep for a very long time! Bravo!
Wow! I am also humbled that Gert is reading our MotoringFile comments. I haven’t been the biggest fan of every aspect of the R56, and I know that’s okay, but now I feel like kind of an ass. He’s totally right, it’s easy to be a critic. But he’s totally gracious in this interview and has such a great perspective knowing that we care so much about the car. VERY cool to hear from him and especially his philosophies on design and how he leads his team. So inspiring.
Gert, you and your team ROCK!!!
Terrific interview. What a true MINI guy. Well done, again, WRR, well done.
I think all of us observing from the sidelines feel right alongside you with the interviews and pics. (Is there going to be a factory soundseeing tour as part of the MINI United package?).
The three interviews to date are being saved to a special Playlist on my iPod so I can get my dose of true MINIdom whenever I get passed by some lesser light on the highway!
However, I was distracted by the babe & party sounds in the background of the Gert interview. I’ve played those sections a number of times and can only deduce that the WRR Hospitality Zone was strategically placed in front of the wave pool.
Give it up guys: Where are the famous WRR Party Babe Pics? (Yeah, I know, I saw the one with Gabe, but c’mon, do I have to remind you of the standard you set at AMVIV??
=R=
Very nice interview! Thanks for being brave enough to bring up the center stack design, I was waiting for that the entire time. It’s nice to hear that they understand the disappointment we all felt upon seeing the dead space and, from what I surmised, will be correcting it.
I just wanted to let Gert know that Mini needed a new model. I wrote a mail to bmw customer service that Mini needed to make an old school size cooper. But I only got a call from a nice lady from MiniUSA and told me, “No”.
Look, Smart, Toyota, Fiat are ahead of the small car business. It is funny how Mini started making larger versions of the Cooper (Helloo… your brand name is MINI).
Pls. ask Gert Hildebrand to bring back the old school size Cooper in Hybrid or a plug-in type. And if not, Mini is making a big mistake. Because The Scion (Toyota)IQ for me is looking too sexy to buy….