Personalizing your next car with plastics

Detroit — BMW AG's Mini compact car brand is getting a little extra style, thanks to plastics.

The German automaker showed new versions of its Mini hardtop and convertible at the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit Jan. 15. An already eye-catching car is now offering a few extra tweaks, including one emphasizing the car's British heritage.

While BMW AG is based in Munich, it purchased the Mini brand from the United Kingdom. So for the new Mini, one of the easiest design tweaks to spot is a version of the UK's Union Jack design integrated into optional LED taillights.

The flag motif is created within the polycarbonate light's structure by aligning functional required lighting with the lines in the Union Jack. So turn signals are placed horizontally within the light, brake lights placed vertically and the rear tail light itself created diagonally.

The Union Jack lights will be available an additional cost, the automaker said, although it has not set the price yet.

But that's not the end for buyers who really want to set their car apart from the rest.

"Our new Mini Yours Customized products offer even more ways for customers to personalize their Mini, including designing their own parts," said Thomas Felbermair, vice president of Mini USA. "Mini is the first auto manufacturer in the U.S. to offer customized parts that are produced using [high technology] methods such as 3D printing and laser lettering."

Buyers will go online to select from a variety of personalized products. Those can range from special trim materials on the interior and exterior to decorative strips with the buyer's name or an LED light projected out from the side mirror with their own selected message.

And more uses of 3D printing are on the horizon with the first all-electric Mini, set to debut in 2019.

"The car's electric nature will be visible in its details, [for example] unconventional and innovative details which reference the traditional Mini world but which at the same time combine it with new technologies," said Oliver Heilmer, head of Mini design, in a news release. "3D printing will certainly play a role.

"I can't give away more details, as we're still working intensively on the design and there are still decisions to be taken."