[ 2009-11-25 ]

BMW provides official Minis for 2012 London Olympics
The Mini, the iconic British car of the 1960s revived for
the modern driver by the Germans, will transport athletes
and officials around London during the 2012 Olympics under a
£40 million deal agreed yesterday.

BMW saloons will also be used for VIPs, sports chiefs and
corporate guests after the German carmaker was chosen over
Ford and Nissan as the official car sponsor of the London
Games.

While the elite will be driven between venues along
specially reserved Olympic lanes, the general public will be
expected to travel on public transport, by bicycle or on
foot as part of a pledge by London organisers to stage a
green Games.

The 4,000 vehicles to be supplied by BMW will be standard
rather than hybrid engines, although the company will
showcase some electric vehicles on the Olympic Park and is
providing a few hundred bicycles for use by competitors
around the Athletes’ Village and by London 2012 staff.

Sadly for members of the International Olympic Committee,
who are used to the red-carpet treatment by host cities,
Rolls-Royce — the classic British marque now also owned by
BMW — is not covered by the cash and services deal.

London organisers defended the choice of BMW, known for its
highperformance engines, saying that the carmaker would
provide a fleet that would meet European CO2 emission
standards as well as its own more stringent target.

Lord Coe, chairman of the London organising committee, said
that the damage to reputation from not being able to manage
official transport during the Games would be “acute” and
that BMW met its operational requirements.

The BMW deal is thought to include more than £20 million in
cash. The contract, which comes after similar deals with
British Airways, BP, Adidas, EDF, Lloyds TSB and BT, brings
the fundraising total by the 2012 organisers close to £600
million. The committee is aiming to raise about £700
million, which would represent a third of its £2 billion
budget. The balance is covered by an IOC contribution and
ticket sales.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said that he would be
talking to Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, about the
possibility of IOC members and VIPs using public transport
as much as possible during the Games.

London’s transport network is undergoing a £100 million
upgrade including a Japanese-style high-speed shuttle known
as the Javelin, which will ferry up to 25,000 people an hour
between St Pancras International and the Olympic Park. The
journey takes less than seven minutes.

Mr Rogge has said that he would consider fewer Olympic road
lanes if London organisers could guarantee congestion-free
streets and reliable public transport.

Under the present plans, more than 250 miles of road across
the country are to be reserved for “zil” lanes, named after
the Soviet limousines used by Communist Party officials, and
more than 200 traffic lights will be adapted to improve
traffic flow. Ordinary drivers face fines for straying on to
reserved routes.

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