8:17 am, September 11, 2008
CAR Dealer can reveal the MINI SUV!
Set to be shown at next month’s Paris Motor Show, the ‘concept’ part of this model’s Crossover Concept tag is something of a misnomer.
For here is, essentially, 2010’s MINI Cross.
A little larger than a Clubman, the concept shows how the chunky, tough-looking but urbanite SUV can be made compact socially acceptable, and thus an absolute must-have with customers.
Dealers, we feel sure, will have people queuing up to place long-term orders when they see this baby up close.
It’s the first four-door MINI, with four individually-sliding seats and yet more practicality inside. The brand has progressively ramped up MINI flexibility, first with the Clubman, and now with this, as the range broadens to encompass a fourth variant.
Those doors are not just any doors, though. Well, three of them are. But the rear on the passenger side slides back, like on a van, or a Peugeot 1007, to aid access (and, presumably, loading of ‘lifestyle’ gear such as bikes and snowboards – the locations of which the MINI SUV will help you arrive at…). Fascinating – will it make production?
The interior is also unique and highly bespoke, with an innovative ‘globe’ in the middle of the dash, for sat nav and other functions. It’s much more simple and elegant than current MINIs, and harks back to the original 1959 car.
A four-wheel-drive platform will enhance on-road handling, plus muddy-field grip, without offering anything like full-blown deep-mud off-road capability. That’s now what this car is about.
Besides, a stop-start function, plus other economy tricks, indicate it could just end up being the world’s most fuel-efficient 4×4 ever. This point could be essential to the car’s success.
We’ll be at the Paris Motor Show to give you the full SP on 2010’s must-have model…
