Daily Auto News MINI Builds an SUV
Daily Auto News
MINI is ready to fight the HUMMER and the Escalade in a mud-track smackdown. Okay, perhaps that’s a slight overstatement. Still, BMW’s MINI division will debut its first off-road vehicle at next month’s 2008 Paris Auto Show.
Yes, an off-road MINI.
explains, “BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer has already confirmed that a Mini SUV will follow today’s Cooper and Clubman as well as next year’s second-generation convertible into showrooms in 2010.” A preview of that vehicle will appear in Paris.
BMW has a “reputation for making only a few revisions from concept to production,” according to , so the concept is probably “very close to the finished product.” Its most distinctive trait is its unusual door layout.Edmunds reports, “On the right are two short front-hinged doors, while the left has a longer front-hinged door and a second, short door that opens parallel to the body at the rear. A one-piece tailgate hinges from the right and has a retractable window, allowing long items to extend out beyond the rear of the car.” It is not clear whether that layout would make it into a production model.
It is mini. Kicking Tires reports that the MINI 4×4 is “just slightly longer than the new Mini Cooper Clubman, but still nearly 20 inches shorter than your standard Honda Civic sedan. “The biggest news,” KT reports, “is that the Crossover concept will sport four-wheel drive, a first for Mini and arguably a major selling point for Snowbelt car shoppers.”
Other mechanical details are scarce. Autoblog comments, “Expect the Crossover to carry the same naturally aspirated and turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engines as its Cooper counterparts,” as well as “BMW’s Efficient Dynamics system (with start-stop tech)” to boost fuel economy.
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