Marton Pettendy•8 Mar 2013
NEWS
MINI MkIII to spawn new model mania
Next year's third-generation MINI to spearhead expanded model range, but new sedan ‘a stretch' for AustraliaMINI has again hinted that a sedan will be among up to 12 distinct derivatives of its third-generation model range due on sale in Australia from next year, but the booted Cooper is likely to be a non-starter here.
The born-again British small-car brand launched its seventh body derivative here this week, with the two-door Paceman crossover bringing the total number of MINI model variants available here to 35, including model grades, engines and transmissions – but not the wide array of optional extras.
That doesn’t include upcoming hot-shoe JCW versions of the five-door Countryman crossover and the two-door Paceman upon which it’s based, which along with the top-shelf JCW GP limited-edition hatch, will arrive here in coming months.
Nor does it include the MINI Clubvan commercial just launched in Europe, where entry-level petrol and diesel engines and ALL4 all-wheel drive versions of the Paceman are also offered.
Yet MINI is plotting a near-doubling of its model range for the MkIII Cooper family, the first member of which is expected to debut at the Frankfurt motor show this September before going on sale globally in 2014, including Australia.
First cab off the rank will be a replacement for the volume-selling MkII R56 three-door Cooper hatch, which itself replaced the original R50 MINI in 2006.
Naturally, replacements for the 2009 R57 Cabrio, the 2011 R50 Countryman, the two-seat R58 Coupe and R59 Roadster launched in 2012 and this year’s R61 Paceman (nee Countryman Coupe) will follow.
However, as we reported last September, the next MINI line-up also appears certain to be bolstered by a four-door sedan and even a large rear-wheel drive variant built in Brazil, as part of an ambitious expansion plan by parent company BMW to double sales to around 600,000 by 2020.
In a little over a decade since it was relaunched by BMW in 2001, MINI last year sold more than 300,000 vehicles, including almost 2400 in Australia (up four per cent), where sales are expected to top 5000 in the next three to four years.
MINI’s global boss Kay Segler told motoring.com.au at last year’s Paris motor show the MkIII MINI model range could be expanded to include up to 12 models over the next decade, including a sedan for markets like North America and China.
MINI Australia General Manager, Kai Bruesewitz, confirmed the redesigned Cooper hatch would be released here next year and echoed Mr Segler’s comments at the local launch of the Paceman this week.
“Paceman is probably not the end of it. There is lots of potential for more models,” he said. “In the US and Asia there’s high demand for [a] sedan, which has potential for the future. Ideas are floating around...”
However, Mr Bruesewitz indicated that if it received the production green light, the MINI sedan would not be sold in Australia – where Cooper hatch accounts for up to 60 per cent of sales, followed by the Countryman – until at least 2017, if at all.
Despite noting the precedence set by the original 1960s MINI ‘sedans’ (which were actually more luxurious versions of the Austin and Morris-badged MINI hatches, badged as the Wolseley Hornet and Riley Elf and fitted with a larger boot to form a three-box profile but still offering only two doors) the sedan is likely to be the first modern MINI model not made available to hatch-oriented Australian enthusiasts.
“If it reaches production, I wouldn’t have high expectations of the sedan ever being sold here,” Mr Bruesewitz told motoring.com.au. “It would be for traditional sedan markets like China and the US ... too much of a stretch for Australian MINI traditionalists. It’s a hard business case.”
If a booted four-door MINI were produced, it would join replacements for the existing two-door MINI hatch, Cabrio, Paceman and two-seat Coupe and Roadster models, plus the five-door/five-seat Countryman SUV and Clubman wagon, bringing the number of MINI body derivatives to eight.
So what of the other four potential MINI body styles? As revealed by the spy pics we showed you in November, the next-generation MINI will also spawn a long-wheelbase five-door hatchback.
An open-top crossover in the spirit of the original MINI Moke is also on the cards, and MINI could use the larger rear-drive South American model as a basis for a reborn MINI ute, which would recall the van-based MINI Pick-up built between 1961 and 1982.
“In future years we might also go up another segment if it makes sense, but one thing’s for sure: we’ll always have the smallest model in any segment,” said Mr Bruesewitz.
Underpinning all these MINI models (except perhaps those built for developing markets) is the same compact front-drive ‘UKL’ platform that will eventually underpin almost half of the two million vehicles the BMW Group expects to sell by 2020, including 12 BMW and 12 MINI models.
They will include the production version of last year’s Concept Active Tourer, which will be the first UKL-based BMW Group model (as well as BMW’s first front-drive model and first people-mover), and – eventually – replacements for the entire 1 Series hatch, coupe, cabrio and upcoming 2 Series coupe and convertible model ranges.
Exactly how the Bavarian luxury car giant will differentiate all these BMW and MINI models based on the same platform remains to be seen.
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Written byMarton Pettendy
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