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MINI x Vagabond: Walkman? Driveman!

The Austrian design studio Vagabund Moto says about itself: "We are not reinventing the wheel, but we are rethinking it." The latest creative project in collaboration with MINI shows just how seriously this is meant: two one-offs based on the MINI Countryman, interpreted as an experimental space.

  • Text
    Verena Stuhlinger
  • Photos
    BMW Group

When the Sony Walkman - some of us may remember - was launched in 1979, it didn't just change the way we listen to music - it changed where we listen to it. For the first time, sound became mobile, inseparable from movement. More than four decades later, MINI and Vagabund are starting exactly where movement begins today: in the car. More precisely: in the MINI Countryman. 

The aim was not only to visually transform the Countryman, but also to redesign it as an experience space for communities. And to make this visually clear. To name just three adaptations: Strikingly redesigned wheel arches with solid, 3D-printed rim covers ensure a visually wider stance. Raising the vehicles reinforces the off-road character of the two MINI Countryman S ALL 4 models and the customised roof rack offers space for a keyboard, among other things.

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However, the customisation of the  rear side windows gives the individual pieces their final character. These have been removed and replaced with a specially developed sound system designed specifically for outdoor sound reinforcement and community events. The centrepiece is a newly developed loudspeaker enclosure made of cast polymer granite - a material that offers ideal conditions for precise and unadulterated sound reproduction. The tweeters and mid-range speakers are integrated directly into the bodywork, while additional woofers in the rear provide noticeable volume when the boot is open. In short: the car becomes a sound box, a mobile stage.

"The MINI x Vagabund One-offs translate a clear idea into a tangible statement."
Paul Brauchart, Co-Founder and Head of Creative Vagabund.
And so back to the Walkman: the iconic player is located on the sides of the vehicle - integrated in a 3D-printed housing. Nostalgia meets modern design - emphasising the experimental character of the concept.

Find out more about the cooperation project MINI x Vagabund and the two Countryman, which are somewhere between product design, installation art and off-road vehicles, here:

→ vagabund-moto.com      |      → mini.de

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