Mini is poised to start work on a more sporting coupé version of the just-launched Countryman five-door crossover.
A Countryman coupé concept is currently on the drawing board at Mini’s design studio in Munich.
See Autocar’s exclusive rendering of Mini’s new 4x4 coupe
It is one of a number of new Mini niche models being considered, as work starts on merging the brand with the planned front-wheel-drive family from BMW.
Sources say this concept is partly being investigated because the BMW X6 was such a runaway success, proving that customers have a taste for the unusual ‘off-road coupé’ format.
Challenge to the Evoque
Mini’s design team is also keeping a keen eye on Land Rover’s new Range Rover Evoque, which also features a coupé-like roofline.
One suggestion is that Mini could provide a cut-price rival to the Evoque with a car that is just as dramatic looking, but with better performance and a more city-friendly package.
The car would cost around £20,000, dramatically undercutting the bigger Range Rover.
Read more about Mini’s plans for its range
Read Autocar’s first drive of the Mini Countryman
One of the options for the new coupé — which, if it gets the green light, will arrive in 2013 —is to have a four-door layout with rear suicide doors on both sides of the car and no B-pillars.
The next-generation Clubman is expected to use the same format, so the engineering work needed to eliminate the B-pillars from the Countryman platform could be shared between the two cars.
Unlike the estate car lines of the Clubman, the Countryman coupé will have a shorter rear overhang, sloping roofline and much shallower side windows.
Despite this, those pushing the new concept say leg room will be just as generous as the standard car and head room will be more than acceptable.
Two-door coupé layout
An alternative plan could see the Countryman coupé using a conventional two-door layout. Some insiders suggest this would be an ideal format for a future version of the WRC Mini, where body stiffness is all-important.
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Re: Mini plans off-road coupe
VW got there first with the Scirocco. Just making it chunky isn't enough.
Re: Mini plans off-road coupe
But it hasn't been "revealed" has it? This is just a rendering produced by Autocar, it might not look anything like this! "Revealed" should mean at least an official picture. But I guess "revealed" on the cover shifts more magazines.
Re: Mini plans off-road coupe
This story strikes me as very odd, with the new countryman being produced in Austria due to lack of available capacity in Oxford why would it be built there, also Mini have recently, this week in fact made much of the mini "6 pack" which will form the mini range. The countryman is the only model which will use that particular platform with the rest using the original platform, a plan which is only going to change with the mini after the next one, it will then use a shared platform with a smaller bmw.
As for a smaller mini, bmw are committed to the megacity and are comitted to rasing the mini brand rather than lowering the entry point below the current first.
As for the countryman coupe, maybe if they did build it it would tackle that clumsy looking c pillar but that would be the only benefit, the rear of the countryman is really a nice place to be, the only reason to buy one rather than a regular mini, with a standard mini coupe coming out who would buy a bulkier and less attractive one. The 4wd works ok but its still not a patch on a normal mini