But today, we’re talking about a third category, where the car becomes a star of the movie itself. These special vehicles become so iconic, that you just have to say “DeLorean” or “1968 Mustang” and everyone knows you’re talking about Back to the Future and Bullitt. And of course, there’s the classic Mini, which has had many great roles, but none as prominent as in 1969’s The Italian Job. So, it was fitting that the new MINI would make its first starring appearance in the 2003 version of that classic caper movie.

Of course, this was not the first new MINI to have its debut appearance be in a major motion picture, that honour goes to the Union Jack-clad MINI in 2002’s Austin Powers in Goldmember. But it was the Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, and Jason Statham led movie that gave the new MINI just as big of a role as any of the aforementioned actors. Indeed, critic Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal at the time famously called it, “the best car commercial ever, [...] and great fun as a movie in the bargain”. This is not a huge surprise as director F. Gary Gray and cinematographer Wally Pfister watched car commercials and photoshoots (as well as classic high-speed chases) when coming up with the look of the movie. And if you have cars that are as instantly iconic as the MINI, well it’s difficult to make them not look good.

But during production, the crew also had to perform a very different type of modification, one which resulted in the first ever electric MINIs being created. During the great heist sequence that serves as the movie's climax, the three MINIs drive down into the Los Angeles Metro, jump in front of a train and continue down the tunnels. The location of the second half of the sequence, where the MINIs drive deep into the tunnel system and collapse the road above, was one of the few sets built for the film. However, the first part – just like most of the rest of the movie – was shot on location, at the actual Los Angeles Metro. This meant that those MINIs really had to drive down the stairs into the underground. The only problem was, local authorities required that only vehicles with no exhaust fumes be used in the Metro.

With such requirements, Director Gray of course first called MINIs parent company, BMW. “They wouldn’t allow us to shoot in the tunnels with cars that had combustion engines. So, I said, ‘Okay, great, we’ll just get electric MINIs and that’ll be fine.’ We called BMW and he said there aren’t any electric MINIs, they don’t exist.” Transportation coordinator John Carpenter had no choice but to engineer and build three completely electric MINIs – the only electric MINIs that existed in the world at the time – that could perform perfectly in LA’s underground. In the end, he managed it perfectly, putting together 2 electric-powered MINI Coopers and 1 MINI Cooper S (the red MINI driven by Charlize Theron). And Gray was incredibly thankful. “It’s one of my favourite moments with the MINIs because of the size. I mean, you can’t imagine any other car doing this stunt except the Minis.”