Peugeot Salutes French Open, MINI Celebrates China and the 2012 Olympics

Are you a tennis fan? Then we don't have to tell you to watch the French Open. Are you a hardcore tennis fan? Then you might consider not only watching the French Open but getting behind the wheel of a French Open special edition Peugeot.

The tie-up between the venerable French brands to create the time-limited Peugeot 207 CC and 308 CC Roland Garros editions makes sense, and celebrates one of the most important tennis tournaments in the sport of tennis. Luxury (and less luxurious) lifestyle brands have a longstanding relationship with automakers, with varying degrees of success (and excess).

There was Maserati's special edition Fendi GranCabrio. The Fiat 500 Gucci model recently got people talking. The more "flannel" Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer is a faded preppy classic.

Fendi and Gucci aside, it isn't only luxury brand editions of auto models, but also the special edition models of the models who consume those luxury brands. (Wait, what?) Most recently, this category has been focused on the "Posh Spice" special edition Range Rover.

But, of course, men drive cars too and feel that a bumper sticker is not enough to express their interests. For these men, there is the Harley-Davidson Ford F-150 and the jacked 2013 "Bullitt" Ford Mustang. For other, ahem, "men," there is the 2011 Jeep Call of Duty: Black Ops Wrangler and the 2012 Transformers: Dark of the Moon Special Edition Camaro Coupe.

There are even national moment special editions, such as Ferrari's new "Dragon" 458 model to celebrate 20 years in China. Just don't take it for joyrides on 600-year-old Chinese walls.

Speaking of China, maybe no car brand has done brand extensions faster and more furiously than the reborn MINI Cooper. Its own brand a sort of brand extension of post-War nostalgia, BMW-owned MINI has hardly met an opportunity it did not like.

Things have not changed this year as Mini recently unveiled its "MINI China Olympics Special Edition." The "special" element appears to be adding yellow stripes on the roof and sides. As CarNewsChina.com notes, it comes "just two weeks ago MINI launched the Chinese Job special edition to celebrate a new ‘parking in a tight place’ record.

The film upon which the "China Job" MINI name is based, The Italian Job, made MINI a star and was later remade. It's about thieves stealing from other thieves. The appropriation is, well, appropriate.