Delphi Help BMW Group Achieve Ambitious Targets With New MINI

    FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept. 6 Delphi Automotive Systems
is supplying a wide range of advanced technologies for the new
MINI, helping BMW Group to achieve ambitious targets for quality, performance
and refinement.  The relationship included working closely with the vehicle
manufacturer on ride and handling, helping it to provide best-in-class
refinement while remaining faithful to the nimbleness and agility of the
original MINI.  Front strut modules and rear damper assemblies will be
supplied from Delphi's facility in Luton (UK).
    
    Twin-tube gas-pressurized shock absorbers with a three-stage valve system,
a premium damper technology usually reserved for high-performance cars, will
be supplied in an unusually high number of spring/damper combinations.

    "This has allowed BMW Group to attain high-performance ride and handling
characteristics in a smaller vehicle," explains Manfred Diedrich, Delphi's
customer director for BMW Group.  "We will be using flexible manufacturing
systems, with in-line quality checking systems, to cost-effectively provide
many different strut/damper combinations at world-leading quality levels."

    Delphi's innovative 125cc Compact Variable Compressor (CVC), manufactured
by its majority-owned venture in Douai, France, has been developed
specifically to increase the fuel economy and refinement of air-conditioning
systems in smaller vehicles.  By adjusting the angle of a swash plate, its
displacement can be automatically varied down to 8cc, reducing noise, allowing
a "soft start" and substantially improving the efficiency of the air
conditioning system.

    The original MINI is one of the UK's most famous motoring products.
Launched in 1959 and only recently withdrawn from production, it was an icon
of the swinging '60s.  As the first volume-production car with a transverse
engine and front-wheel drive, it set new standards for packaging and road
holding.  Today the MINI is a design legend, one of the most successful rally
cars ever (with three firsts in the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally) and
regarded worldwide as one of the world's most significant automotive designs.