New MINI for LA show debut

MINI has indicated its all-new Cooper hatchback is likely to make its global public debut at the Los Angeles motor show on November 20.

Speaking at the Australian launch of the John Cooper Works Countryman and Paceman models in Hobart this evening, MINI Australia product planner Sue McCarthy surprised media by indicating the timing of the all-new MINI’s reveal.

“We’ll see the new one at the LA motor show in November,” she said, adding: “We will launch [globally] next year, in the first quarter.”

MINI Australia representatives later confirmed the new hatch will arrive in local showrooms in the first half of next year (2014), but said the venue of its world debut had yet to be confirmed.

Whenever it appears, the third-generation MINI will replace the current R56-series hatch, which was introduced in 2006 and itself was a re-engineered iteration of the original ‘new’ MINI that commenced sales in 2001.

MINI spokespersons did not confirm drivetrain options for the new models, instead saying the three-cylinder engine expected to power entry-level Cooper models was under consideration for Australia.

Upper-spec models will rely on four-cylinder turbocharged power while turbo-diesel and all-electric motivation is also rumoured as ‘likely’.

Spied repeatedly in recent times, the new MINI will be based on the BMW Group’s new front-wheel drive UKL1 architecture, which will also underpin the next-generation 1 and 2 Series models.

It is estimated that the new compact modular platform will form the basis of about half of the two million vehicles the BMW Group plans to sell annually by 2020, including 12 MINI and 12 BMW models.

It is anticipated that the new MINI line-up will eventually expand to include the same seven bodystyles already on offer (Hatch, Cabrio, Clubman, Paceman, Roadster, Countryman and Coupe) in as many as 23 different variants.

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