YOU CAN’T GET COOLER THAN A MINI: Q&A With Head of MINI South Africa, Carmen Myles

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In conversation with Carmen Myles, Head of MINI South Africa, on rebellion, individuality, community and why owning a MINI has always meant more than simply owning a car

There are easier ways to spend a public holiday than sitting in a convoy of MINIs for more than an hour. But perhaps that’s exactly the point.

Hundreds of MINIs. Classics alongside the newest generation. Families, friends, pets and owners who clearly see their cars as something far more personal than transport.

For JoburgStyle, the journey was part of the story. By the time we sat down with Carmen Myles, Head of MINI South Africa, we had experienced MINI rather than simply observed it.

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So we decided not to talk about horsepower, specification sheets or conventional motoring metrics. We wanted to understand something much more interesting: What makes MINI, MINI? And how does a brand built on more than six decades of individuality and a healthy dose of rebellion retain that personality in an automotive world increasingly dominated by electrification, software and screens?

For Myles, the answer continually returns to three things: Personality. Individuality. Community.

IT STARTS WITH COMMUNITY

“I’m very proud and very privileged to be Head of MINI South Africa because we have a fantastic community of MINI customers and MINI fans,” says Myles.

“Not anybody would give up their public holiday to sit in a convoy for an hour and a bit and drive a car. But it’s part of MINI.”

That word — community — would come up repeatedly during our conversation. Looking around us, it was easy to understand why. This didn’t feel like hundreds of customers attending a corporate automotive event. It felt like hundreds of people who belonged to something.

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CAN A REBELLIOUS BRAND BECOME TOO CORPORATE?

MINI has spent more than 60 years being slightly rebellious. So we asked Myles whether a rebellious brand can ever become too corporate.

“I think MINI will always maintain its rebellion,” she says. “It’s about being within that corporateness and being responsible, but still being rebellious and keeping our go-kart, fun feeling.”

It’s an interesting balancing act. MINI benefits from the engineering and technological scale of the BMW Group while carrying an identity that has always felt distinctly less conventional. Fun matters. Character matters. And rebellion, apparently, still matters.

IF MINI DISAPPEARED TOMORROW

We took the car away completely: If MINI stopped making cars tomorrow, what would people actually miss?

“The personality, the community and the small, funky car that it is.”

It was a deceptively simple answer. None of those things is a technical specification, yet together they probably explain MINI better than a list of specifications ever could.

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MINI UNDERSTANDS INDIVIDUALITY

We asked Myles what MINI understands about human beings that other automotive brands perhaps don’t.

“We understand community. We understand connection. We understand individuality. If you look at all the different MINIs, there isn’t a MINI that is the same. MINI customers like to customise and make their cars their own. It truly is a representation of who they are as individuals.”

That individuality has always been fundamental to MINI. Look around a gathering of owners and you’ll see different colours, wheels, finishes, accessories and personal touches. You don’t simply buy a MINI. Somehow, it becomes your MINI.

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TAKE AWAY THE BADGE

So what happens if you remove the badge? Would you still know it was a MINI?

“The car’s design and its heritage go all the way back to 1959 and what Sir Alec Issigonis created. MINI has remained, through all the generations, distinctively MINI. So even if you took away the badge, you’d know instantaneously that it was a MINI.”

Few brands achieve that level of visual identity. Technology changes. Powertrains change. Interiors change. Generations of customers change. Yet somehow MINI remains unmistakably MINI.

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WOULD MINI RATHER BE BIGGER OR EXCLUSIVE?

We gave Myles another uncomfortable choice. Would she rather sell more MINIs and risk the brand becoming common — or sell fewer and remain culturally desirable?

“We welcome all. So we will sell more MINIs because it means more people in the community and more people in the brand. You can have more people and still be exclusive, still be MINI and still be a culture.”

It’s an important distinction. Exclusivity doesn’t necessarily require exclusion. MINI’s individuality may actually be what protects it from becoming ordinary as its community grows.

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WHEN EVERY CAR HAS A SCREEN, WHAT ARE WE REALLY BUYING?

The automotive industry is changing at extraordinary speed. Electric powertrains. Instant torque. Software. Connectivity. Digital interfaces. Eventually, almost every manufacturer will be able to offer variations of the same technologies.

So what are we really buying — engineering or identity?

“I think it’s a bit of both,” says Myles. “MINI being part of the BMW Group means you have the best of the technology that is offered, as well as the heritage that comes with the car. You’re buying into a lifestyle and into what I like to call the MINI family. But it’s also a movement.”

That final word matters: movement. Technology can be replicated. Features can be copied. Performance gaps eventually close. Culture is much harder to manufacture.

“YOU CAN’T GET COOLER THAN A MINI”

What scares you more: a competitor building a better small electric car than MINI, or somebody building a cooler brand than MINI?

“Neither,” Myles responds. “We value competition because it makes us better and keeps us on our toes. We listen to our customers, and competition forces you as a brand to make sure that you’re in touch with your customers and that you know what they want. So we’re not afraid of competition.”

Then comes the line: “And you can’t get cooler than a MINI.”

Standing surrounded by hundreds of them, it was difficult to argue.

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HERE’S R100 MILLION. YOU CAN’T BUY AN AD.

We gave Myles an imaginary R100 million with one condition: not one rand could be spent on conventional advertising.

“That is one hell of a question,” she laughs.

Her instinct wasn’t to build a bigger advertising campaign. It was to invest in people.

“I would take the time to invest in our community and see how we can empower the next generation. Some of the things that we’ve been playing around with are how we invest in young ladies. And also invest in our product.”

Community. Empowerment. Sustainability. Product. Perhaps the interesting part of the answer isn’t where R100 million would go. It’s where it wouldn’t.

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IS A MINI ACTUALLY A MEMBERSHIP CARD?

By this point, we had developed a theory. Perhaps MINI doesn’t simply sell cars anymore. Perhaps the car is effectively a membership card into a culture.

“We do sell cars,” Myles laughs. “But you’re buying more than just a car. You’re buying a lifestyle and you’re buying into a community. So it’s more than just about selling a car.”

That may be the simplest explanation of MINI today. The transaction begins with the car. The relationship goes much further.

WHAT DOES CARMEN MYLES WANT TO LEAVE BEHIND?

For our final formal question, we jumped forward nine years. It’s 2035. Nobody remembers MINI’s 2026 sales figures. What does Carmen Myles hope people remember that she changed?

“I would hope that when people remember 2026, MINI brought back its funkiness. It brought back its fun. I want my legacy to be that I brought the community together. We’ve brought the community together a lot more, and I want people to remember that we brought together diverse people and cultures into a brand. If I’ve done that, then for me, I would have done my job.”

Perhaps that tells you everything you need to know about Myles’ vision for MINI. Not numbers. People.

AND THEN THE INTERVIEW ENDED…

Except it didn’t.

The cameras may have effectively stopped, but the conversation continued. And that’s often when the best stories emerge.

We started talking about MINI owners who return to the brand again and again. People who have owned multiple generations. Families. First-time buyers. Collectors. And customers whose loyalty stretches across decades.

Then Myles mentioned one particular customer. MINI’s oldest customer, she told us, is 84 years old. And he won’t change.

There was really only one question left to ask: How do you drive a MINI at 84?

Myles didn’t miss a beat: “Rebelliously.”

And there it was. One word that somehow encapsulated the entire day.

REBELLION DOESN’T HAVE AN AGE LIMIT

Our conversation moved naturally towards the Countryman and how MINI itself has had to grow alongside its customers.

“The Countryman has taken us into another customer base, another audience,” says Myles. “If you were thinking MINI perhaps wasn’t practical for you, now it is a car that’s practical.”

That’s important. The twenty-something who fell in love with MINI doesn’t necessarily have to leave when life changes. Careers happen. Families happen. Children happen. Luggage happens. The car may need to grow. The personality doesn’t.

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NINE MINIS LATER…

We also talked about customers who don’t simply return once. Some have bought MINI after MINI after MINI — nine, in one example.

And that raises a fascinating question: Who are South Africa’s most loyal MINI owners?

Imagine their stories. The person buying their first MINI. The owner buying their ninth. A collector preserving a classic. A parent introducing MINI to another generation. And an 84-year-old who is apparently still driving rebelliously.

These aren’t sales statistics. They’re stories. And they’re something no advertising agency can manufacture: genuine loyalty.

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MORE THAN A CAR

We arrived expecting to interview the head of an automotive brand. We left talking about people. Perhaps that’s the point.

The automotive industry will continue changing. Electric powertrains will improve. Software will become smarter. Screens will become larger. Cars will become faster. And competitors will inevitably catch one another.

But some things cannot be engineered overnight: heritage, personality, belonging, memory, individuality and community. MINI appears to understand that.

It explains why owners customise their cars. Why someone buys another MINI. And then another. Why hundreds of people give up a public holiday to drive together. Why families arrive. Why pets come along. And apparently why an 84-year-old refuses to give his up.

Carmen Myles says she wants her legacy at MINI South Africa to be about bringing people, generations and cultures together while returning fun and funkiness to the brand. Judging by what we experienced, she may already be doing it.

Because MINI isn’t simply asking people to buy a car. It’s giving them permission to express who they are.

And if anyone questions whether that still matters in 2026, Carmen Myles has a fairly simple answer: “You can’t get cooler than a MINI.”

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