February 22, 2004:

First MINI press release - 1997

I recently purchased from eBay seller 0llllll0 a very interesting September 1997 Frankfurt press release with (presumably) the first announcement of the “new Mini”:

The announcement mentions the joint BMW / Chrysler engine and the high safety standards, and says the new Mini will be … targeted directly at wealthier comsumer groups looking for exciting urban modes of transport; I think they got that right!
The early pictures are interesting:

On this picture you can see that the Mini still had the “old” Rover group badge, and included the chrome fuel cap in the non-S model.

This picture shows the twin exhaust, characteristic of the S model, but offset to the side where the single non-S exhaust is today. You can also clearly see a very different “Mini” logo in the style of a continuous ripple - quite attractive!