It will be available in the U.S. too. Probably under the Electrolux brand.
Cheap? Of course not!
Just like the Brastemp Eggo (Eco Egg), which looks like an egg and doesn't have spin cycle, the marketing target are those women that usually wash their underwear in the shower and hang them on the shower's tap only to make their husbands desperate.
And as any husband like to see that horror scenario every time they are going to take a shower, the machine sells itself.
Most of the buyers here in Brazil aren't the women that discovered a new way to spend the husband's money but the husbands, trying to "educate" their wives. It sounds funny and sexist but, those are facts.
The secondary effect (probably not thinked when those machines were created) was that they are really useful.
Brastemp Eggo washes amazingly well and remove difficult stains even on cold water, because the mechanical action is very strong. It's also good for those loads that are always small and shouldn't be mixed with other loads, like kitchen towels or cleaning mops or that red shirt that bleeds like hell when washed. The bad things about the Eggo is that it doesn't spin and, even being smaller than a regular bucket, it still has a footprint to waste floor space. Is also can't wash a regular jeans or a bath towel because it's too small.
Mini can do exactly everything a standard front loader can do. It washes, rinses, and spins any load. Even a king size set of sheets (two sheets and two pillowcases) can be washed and there will be room enough for a third sheet and maybe one pillowcase more. Onde can wash three pairs of jeans or three bath towels (maybe more if the towels are smaller)
The cycles are very flexible. I loved that we can add several extra rinses. It also heats the water, pefect for those difficult loads. the extraction can be considered amazing for that tiny drum diameter. Of course a regular modern front loader would extract much more water during the spin.
We should also consider the people that live in small apartments. In the U.S., the smallest machine available, as far as I know, is that cute Haier top loader. Try to wash three king size sheet is it. It's obvious it will be overloaded! Mini is 6 times smaller and can wash twice of it's capacity.
Daewoo is now working on a washer-dryer version of Mini. It will be much more useful. Who never needed to run the dryer with only one garment in it?
The only thing i hate about them is the price. The Electrolux Mini Silent costs more than a regular 15kg capacity top loader. If they were cheaper, having two washing machines in every home would be as normal as having a stove in the kitchen.
