REPORT: Mini 'Countryman' crossover skipping Detroit for Geneva?
Mini Countryman concept -- Click above for high-res image gallery
Everyone is getting ready for the Mini Countryman -- including, perhaps, the WRC -- but everyone is going to have to wait, according to a report by those Mini-mad folks at Motoring File. The holdup is the upcoming BMW X3, which is BMW's foremost concern right now as the little crossover is practically as important to BMW as a Euro print plate is to the European Central Bank.
The Mini will be produced at Magna's plant in Austria, but first BMW has to complete the shift in X3 production from that plant to its facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Until that's done, Countryman production can't begin. That has observers figuring that the production Mini crossover won't meet the public until next year's Geneva show, instead of Detroit.
The other Countryman-related news is that, like SH-AWD and Quattro and Symmetrical AWD, Mini plans on a specific brand for its flavor of all-wheel drive. The name is said to be "All4." Yes, our minds are already agog at the ways in which Mini will be spinning that little moniker...
Gallery: MINI Crossover Concept LIVE
[Source: Motoring File]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
*WoodysCarSite.com* 9:10AM (10/26/2009)
I'm kind of excited for this but I think BMW is making too much of a big deal on privacy.
It is not the cure for cancer!!!!!!
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Jimbo 1:20PM (10/26/2009)
Where does it say anything about privacy?
michael pettibone 9:29AM (10/26/2009)
A shop near my house specialises in the original mini and always has several parked outside.The BMW mini seems huge in comparison.Hard to believe this ungainly behemoth will still be called a mini.They should steal one more concept from BMC-the MAXI.
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nintendo fanboy hater 9:31AM (10/26/2009)
can this skip out on production entirely so we can keep the minis as they are. i mean i will never get one as they are too small for me but i like how they look now.
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Otsego_Undead 12:47PM (10/26/2009)
You'd be suprised how much room MINI's actually have. My wife and I took our MCS R53 for a 1.5 week road trip from Central WA to San Francisco. Plenty of room and quite comfortable.
Luso 9:34AM (10/26/2009)
Taking into account the recent traffic at Frankfurt and Tokyo, something is telling me Detroit 2010 will be a very conservative show.
http://www.carnorama.com
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dal20402 10:11AM (10/26/2009)
The surefire way to make a car worse, but make it sell better: raise the ride height 5 inches and add 1000 pounds of weight.
Why are buyers such idiots?
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akboss302 10:17AM (10/26/2009)
I guess this is the kind of vehicle that happens when automakers are desperate to make a buck...I'm sure somebody will buy them, but I think its crap. There is no way this little tart-cake CUV will have the go-kart handling of the car, which is what I figured was the whole philosophy of the Mini.
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jayswaddell 12:25PM (10/26/2009)
The Mini brand just jumped the shark.
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twistedbitz 11:20AM (10/26/2009)
First off AutoBlog it's... new generation = "MINI"... Classic = "Mini"...!
I also feel this thing is an ugly slug but here is MotoringFile's answer to why such a slug is getting built....
http://www.motoringfile.com/2009/07/23/the-secret-history-of-the-mini-r60-crossover/
Also, a MF survey showed that 44% of the 1100 who voted would buy this thing. The Clubman was hotly debated and Scheiße on at MotoringFile, I was one of the critics, but once I saw on in person I nearly bought one. I see tons of them here in SoCal. The Classic Mini owners are sort of split as to if the new MINI is a real MIni. I've owned 3 MINIs since 2002 and love the car even with it's poor construction quality. Do I think this will sell, sure as most who buy MINI now don't care a bit about it's history like most of us early buyers did.
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Richard Black 8:02PM (10/27/2009)
imho.....I would've liked to have seen a new MINI Moke ......Not an suv or a cuv
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Jimbo 1:18PM (10/26/2009)
I love the MINI and would buy one, but I just can't get past the ergonomically-challenged interior. I'm sure I would get used to it after a while, but it shouldn't have to be that way.
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*WoodysCarSite.com 1:33PM (10/26/2009)
@ Jimbo
What I meant by privacy is that they should just show us the freaking car already instead of delaying and delaying.
Woody Thompson
www.WoodysCarSite.com
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twistedbitz 3:31PM (10/26/2009)
@Jimbo... Gotta agree, the interior sucks, at least what I've seen anyway. I'm sure they will get rid or the funky plastic globe thingy, I hope anyway. A vehicle this big and it only seats 4? Huh!
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grimble 3:52PM (10/26/2009)
wtf is that thing, Mini- skip all the auto shows.
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Dinky Toy 8:29PM (10/26/2009)
I like the new front end and big wheel arches and you can always lower it if it rides to high.... Hopefully the Countryman will get some of the same treatment soon.
But what is up with that dip in the roofline at the C-pillar... That just makes me want to vomit!
Dinky Toy 8:36PM (10/26/2009)
Trying to be smart and see what happens...
Of course I meant that hopefully the Clubman (and not the Countryman) will get some of the same treatment soon.
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