Carsales Staff•24 Feb 2014
NEWS
SPY PICS: MINI Clubman lives on
Quirky van-like MINI will be larger, but will drop suicide door in a nod to conventionThe MINI brand is moving into the mainstream, and its migration to the modular UKL platform that will also underpin entry-level BMW models will only speed up that process.
Pictures snapped by the spy photographers at Automedia reveal the extent of the transition, as MINI moves away from its niche-market image. Previous photos showed the new five-door model, which will surely grow sales volumes to a substantial degree once the new (F56 series) range begins trickling into the market. The range is rumoured to be joined by a sedan version as well.
Talk of a five-door MINI was believed to have spelled the end for the MINI Clubman, but now Automedia has spotted a prototype of the Clubman in the field. The new Clubman has dropped the asymmetric design of the current model, and will feature two conventional (front-hinged) doors for rear-seat passengers, according to Automedia.
Automedia's pics clearly show a door behind the driver's door in this pre-production model caught testing in a cold climate. Since the driver is sitting on the left of the car, rear-seat passengers would be disembarking in traffic. Most likely then, there's also another rear door on the other side of the car for kids to leave the car on the kerb side (in left-hand drive countries). Note, if you look closely in the ¾ rear pic, there's also an external door handle near the trailing edge of the door.
All that immediately sounds the death knell for the Clubman as we have known it. But the question then arises, how will this Clubman sit in the range alongside the five-door hatch without cannibalising sales?
According to Automedia, the Clubman has grown in size to accommodate the conventional rear doors. The photos here clearly show that the trailing edge of the rear doors meets the rear wheel arches at around 12 o'clock, whereas the five-door hatch has the doors ending slightly further forward – at around 10 o'clock. Add to that what looks like a slightly higher roofline at the rear and the on-going barn doors of the Clubman, versus the conventional liftback tailgate of the five-door hatch, and you have a significant point of distinction.
Dare we suggest that difference will position the Clubman as a true 'wagon' in the range, relative to the five-door hatch?
– with Automedia
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Written byCarsales Staff
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalists
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