MINI Crossover Concept to make Paris debut
Clive Goldthorp
MINI UK has just released details and photographs of the Crossover
Concept which will be unveiled at next month’s Paris Motor Show. MINI's Chief
Designer, Gert Hildebrand, describes the Crossover Concept as the first 4x4x4x4 MINI – the car has four
doors, four wheel drive, four single seats and a length of over 4m. The car
previews MINI’s planned Sports Activity Vehicle, the MINI Cross, which
will be built by Magna Steyr in Austria and launched in Q2/2010.
The Crossover Concept’s exterior features an exaggerated
three-slat chromed grille and large high-mounted headlights while the door arrangement
continues the asymmetric and idiosyncratic trend first seen on the MINI Clubman.
There are two conventional doors on the passenger side (front and back) but,
on the driver’s side, there are a conventional front door and a rear door
which slides back along the outside of the car. The car’s one-piece tailgate
opens sideways and the frameless glass rear window can be retracted. MINI claims
that this arrangement enables the Crossover Concept to carry skis, snowboards
and surfboards.
The car’s most striking interior feature, the MINI Centre
Globe, combines all the major entertainment, telecommunication and navigation
functions. The three dimensional globe has a touch-activated surface and can
be split into two halves so that the driver can use the navigation system while
the passenger surfs the Internet.
AROnline understands that the MINI Cross will feature
a more conventional five-door layout in order to keep production costs down
and suspects that the MINI Centre Globe may not be production-ready for a while
yet. However, the MINI Cross should, if our sources are correct, be powered
by the existing MINI range’s engines so expect a choice of 1.4 litre and
1.6 litre petrol units producing from 95bhp to 175bhp (in turbocharged Cooper
S guise) and a PSA-made 1.6 litre diesel with 110bhp. Rumours suggest that the
entry level price point for the MINI Cross will be around £18,000.
The MINI Crossover Concept’s looks have sparked something
of a debate here at AROnline – the car seems to be even more
of a Marmite model than the MINI Clubman.
You can join that debate by posting your comments in the Feedback section below.
Interior is dominated by the Centre Globe - a new take on in-car multi-media.
