Autoblog

An article published in yesterday's Globe and Mail newspaper focused on the ongoing discussion/debate our neighbors to the north are having with regard to greenhouse gas emissions and the role fuel plays in them. Automakers quoted in the article are essentially unanimous in their opinions that Canada needs to improve the quality and variety of the fuels it has on the market. Cleaner detergent gasolines, low-sulfur diesel, and E85 Ethanol are all touched upon in the piece by Greg Keenan.

One of the more interesting revelations comes near the top of the article. BMW, which will add diesels to its Canadian product range next year, is apparently considering whether or not to export the very economical MINI Cooper D to the Great White North. As we've mentioned before, the latest version of the Cooper D is good for 60 mpg. A note to BMW: Instead of just Canada, you should think of maybe sending the Cooper D to ALL of North America. You might find that the market's plenty receptive in that other country. You know... the one with 50 states.

[Source: The Globe and Mail]

Mini Cooper D. Click image for photo gallery.

Come August, the European MINI range will undergo a revamp that results in fuel economy and emissions improvements across the board. The most impressive numbers come from the Cooper D (for diesel), which as you know is unavailable here. We'll use the car's US mpg measurements for the sake of discussion (the press info after the jump uses measurements based on the larger Imperial gallon). The current Cooper D gets 53.4mpg as is, but after the changes it'll jump to a tick over 60 mpg. At the same time, its CO² emissions will drop from 118g/km to 104g/km.

As you'll see after the jump, every car makes, including the Cooper S, whose combined-cycle fuel economy will rise to almost 38 mpg. The regular MINI Cooper will go 43 miles on a single gallon, and the Europe-only MINI One will do slightly better, getting 44 and change. MINI pulls this off by incorporating regenerative braking, a driver-defeatable stop/start system on manual-transmission-equipped cars, and by adding a shift indicator that tells the driver what gear to select to ensure that maximum efficiency is being achieved. We see no reason why these changes couldn't be incorporated on the USDM Cooper and Cooper S, and hope that 's part of the plan. Next step: work on getting that Cooper D over here, okay? We want that.

Full PR with before-and-after numbers is pasted after the jump. You can use TDIClub's conversion calc to translate the Imperial measurements to our own.

[Source: MINI via AutoblogGreen]