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>Protection for pedestrians is a curious thing - it's not at all obvious to me that a current Mini would be any better than the originals. I understand front-bumper airbags have been explored, I don't know how practical or cost-effective they would be. Probably the greatest advance in the near future would be to enhance various automatic braking systems to respond to pedestrians as well as fixed obstacles and other vehicles; I think some makers are already working on this.

quick scanning turned up in Wiki:

Although the new model looks very similar to its predecessor, every panel was different and new safety requirements resulted in the overall length increasing by 60 mm (2.4 in).

Did not look at technical drawings to verify if increase happened over all or mostly in front (as I remember)