New MINI Countryman lands in Korea with Samsung's round OLED display

The first new Mini Countryman in seven years made its Korea debut, showing off its Samsung-developed round OLED display.

The new MINI Countryman, with the industry’s very first round organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display developed by Samsung Display [MINI KOREA]

A reinvented MINI Countryman has arrived in Korea with a more charismatic front facade, bigger body and the industry’s very first round organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display.

It's the first full revamp of the Countryman in seven years.

The biggest feature of the small SUV is the 9.4-inch round OLED display, which was co-developed by Samsung Display and BMW exclusively for MINI cars — the very first-ever round display in a vehicle.

The display comes with clearer picture quality and quicker touch response "like a smartphone," MINI's spokesperson said.

The round organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display developed by Samsung Display [SARAH CHEA]

The OLED display offers various features like the dashboard, navigation and infotainment system. Other information like speed and petrol are presented in the heads-up display.

"Making a round display isn't as simple as it seems; it's not just cutting a rectangular panel," said Lim Ji-soo, a marketing manager at Samsung Display, at a media event held in eastern Seoul on Thursday. "We had to redesign some 11 million pixels and develop new auto parts from scratch."

The new MINI Countryman has the industry’s very first round organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, which was developed by Samsung Display. [MINI KOREA]

During the four-year development period, the two sides went through 216 meetings, Lim said.

The Countryman also comes with a bigger body, with a length increased by 150 millimeters (6 inches) and a raised height of 105 millimeters. The wheelbase, the distance between the front and back wheels, increased by 20 millimeters.

"The MINI Countryman is now a family car; the trunk capacity was boosted from 450 liters to 505 liters," said Oliver Heilmer, head of design for MINI, during the media event. "When folding down the second row of seats, it is expanded to 1,530 liters."

The small SUV comes in two versions, with the high-performance version boasting up to 317 horsepower.

The sticker price of the Countryman starts at 49.9 million won ($36,300).

The car brand is also slated to introduce a new MINI Cooper and electric versions of the MINI Cooper and MINI Countryman in the second half of the year.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]