The chassis of the Mini was revised to give it a sporty stance and a redesigned engine bay. The front end of the vehicle resembles its hatchback predecessor while the rear portion, starting from the A pillars, was modified to house the folding soft top.

German soft top specialist, Edscha, spearheaded the realization of the metal and fabric top that can be out of view in just 15 seconds while the car is smoothly cruising at 20 mph. It can also be partially retracted to serve as a sunroof.

Car designers disclosed that the new Mini is lighter than its older brother by 22 pounds. The Cooper S registers at 2712 pounds.

Considering the safety of the riders, a roll bar is deployed when the installed sensors detect impact. An openometer is also added near the tachometer of the vehicle. The openometer is quite an odd gauge measuring how long the car has been driven with its top rolled down.

There will be two versions of the Mini convertible when it will be launched in the US. There will be the naturally aspirated 1.6L four cylinder engine that is able to give out 118 horsepower. Its sibling will be the 1.6L turbocharged power plant that boasts of 172 horsepower. Manual and automatic transmissions will be available for this release of the Mini.

There is also another edition that will be released in the US market able to cruise with a 211 horsepower four-cylinder engine.

The new Mini convertible is expected to hit the show rooms by March 2009 with a sticker of around $24550.