MINI sedan "all speculation"

Talk of a born-again MINI sedan, as reported in the UK press last week, is premature but a modern MINI four-door is a logical next step in the expansion of the British brand's small-car family, says MINI Australia's new national manager Tony Sesto.

The BMW-owned company's Australian boss said plans to grow the MINI model line-up beyond its current five core models – three-door Hatch, five-door Hatch, two-door Convertible, Clubman wagon and Countryman SUV – was news to him.

"To my knowledge there's no talk of that at the moment. The strategy is to go with the five models that we have available," said Sesto at the Australian launch of the new MINI Convertible this week.

Asked specifically about the prospects of the first modern MINI sedan, Sesto said: "That's news to me as well. I'm not aware of any MINI sedan. At this stage I'd say it's speculation. I haven't had any communication about it."

However the MINI Australia chief wouldn't rule out another model further down the track, and conceded that a compact premium sedan bearing a MINI badge would be of interest Down Under, especially if the business case was solid.

"Of course if the business case [for a sedan] stacks up it would make a lot of sense. We have a complete model range at the moment. [But] Who's to know what MINI could bring us," he added.

When BMW celebrated its centenary by releasing the eye-popping Vision Next 100 concept last month, it said it would unveil three more concepts as part of its 100th birthday bash in 2016, including one from MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad (motorcycles).

We understand the big-budget reveal could take place at the 2016 Paris motor show in October, but it's not clear if the new concept will hint at the company's sixth model, sedan or otherwise.

"The concept from MINI hasn't been revealed yet -- I haven't even seen it myself," conceded Sesto, demonstrating the secrecy around the new model.

"There's a number of reasons MINI could be doing this concept, and that's not necessarily to say that this is a new MINI sedan or a new MINI model to be joining the range," he stated.