Bye, Bye GREAT Britain MINI!
After a Royal launch at the iconic Brandenburg Gate the GREAT branded MINI toured throughout Germany this year showcasing British strengths
GREAT Britain MINI tour launch in the heart of Berlin, Copyright: Buddy Bartelsen/impresspicture
1 car, 2 Princesses, 12 themes, 16 Federal States, 150 events, the participation of almost 1,000 businesses, personalities and partners organisations, almost 60,000 kilometres on the clock, hundreds of thousands of online views and around 1.5 million new friends (and some happy cows). That was the GREAT Britain MINI Tour (GBMT), which finished on 12 December at the closing ceremony at BMW Welt in Munich.
What a journey it has been. We launched the Great Britain MINI Tour at the Brandenburg Gate with Their Royal Highnesses Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie on 17 January 2013. Since then, the GREAT Britain MINI has travelled to the four corners of Germany from Sylt in the north to Oberstdorf in the South. From Görlitz in the East to Selfkant in the West. In the process the GB MINI completed the prestigious Zipfelpass and promoted British strengths in fashion, music, technology, innovation, design, sport, shopping and tourism.
As an example of British style, design and technology, a British export and result of inward investment, the GB MINI was the perfect vehicle to promote Britain in Germany.
The GREAT Britain MINI has been to 150 events in the 16 Bundesländer and been seen by more than 1.5 million people! Some of the highlights include racing around the Nürburgring, shifting into fifth gear at the GREAT Britain Race Day at Berlin’s Hoppegarten race track, joining the British Embassy at the CSD in Berlin, teaming up with British Airways and easyJet on the runways at Frankfurt and Hamburg airports, being pride of place on HMS Defender in Hamburg, and chauffeuring Ken Loach and Saskia Rosendahl at the Berlin Film Festival.
In the lead at the Nürburgring, Copyright: Bodo Brüsehaber
The Great Britain MINI Tour has been supported by the Prime Minister David Cameron, Sir James Dyson, Sir David Chipperfield, David Hockney, the Voice of Germany 2012 Nick Howard, and World Snooker Number 1 Mark Selby and many, many more.
We are proud to have been partners with GREAT British businesses, such as Marks & Spencer, Louche London, Kusan, Tyrell’s crisps, Ted Baker, easyJet, British Airways, Dyson, GKN Engineering, Thorntons chocolates, Tunnock’s, Walkers biscuits, Apricot, Mulberry, Rolls Royce and Roundhouse – the producers of environmentally-friendly cattle feeding stations. The GB MINI was also part of Karstadt’s Feel London month of British fashion.
We are delighted to have teamed up with world-class British artists including the Crystal Fighters, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Kate Nash, jazz musician Django Bates, legendary rock band Status Quo, Jazz band Beats and Pieces, the Empty White Circles, conceptual artist Gillian Wearing, sculptor Tony Cragg, and authors Alan Hollinghurst and Esther Freud.
Along the way the GREAT Britain MINI has taken in some of Germany’s wonderful landmarks from Cologne Cathedral to Schloss Mirow, met up with old friends at the Loreley and the Stuttgarter Messe and even taken holidays in Luxembourg and Paris!
The GREAT Britain MINI lives on for a few more months as part of the MINI Pub Quiz.
Read all the stories from the GREAT Britain MINI Tour on our Facebook site, look at a selection of GBMT images on Flickr and watch the Tour and the music videos.
Tour video:
Music videos:
Kate Nash
Empty White Circles
Updates to this page
Last updated 20 December 2013 + show all updates
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Added translation
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16 Federal States, 12 Themes, 12 Months, 150 events, almost 60,000 km on the clock and much more. All the details about the GREAT Britain MINI Tour which ended on 12 December at the closing ceremony at BMW Welt in Munich.
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As the successful GREAT Britain MINI Tour is nearing its end, read about some of its highlights.
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First published.