FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: MINI pressed into action

BMW Group hastily refocused to make the new MINI Clubman its headline act after its CEO sensationally collapsed on the neighbouring BMW stand.

MINI boss Peter Schwarzenbauer announced the stretched Clubman wagon, which motoring.com.au will drive in Sweden later this month, even as the concerned murmurs grew louder at the BMW stand, less than 40 metres away.

“The MINI Clubman marks the next phase in our brand development,” Schwarzenbauer said.

“MINI will focus more on its strengths, under the motto ‘Maximise the experience – focus on the essential’”.

He said it would focus on five core models, rather than the ever-expanding range ideas of recent years, and that MINI would move into completely new ideas and business areas, including a housing project in Germany.

Yet the Clubman was the star of the show, with six doors instead of five, plus five seats. It retains the barn-door style rear doors and adds two normal doors on each side of the body.

It has 360 litres of luggage capacity in the rear, though that can boom out to 1250 litres with the rear seats folded down, while Schwarzenbauer says the interior equipment and quality will “redefine premium in its segment”.

It will launch with four different turbo motors, including three- and four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, with the range topped out by the Cooper S Clubman, and an eight-speed automatic.