The MINI Canyon - a 2 Door MINI Countryman
The MINI rumour for this week is the MINI Canyon, a 2 door MINI Countryman to go head to head with the Range Rover Evoque.
What on earth is a MINI Canyon, I hear you ask? You’ll be shocked to know it’s yet another iteration of the ubiquitous MINI, and it’s due to hit our roads in 2012 if the rumours Auto Express are pushing are to be believed.
The MINI Canyon is said to be a 2 door MINI Countryman based on a shortened Countryman platform and featuring the Countryman’s AWD option. But why – apart from the desire to create as many cars as possible to shove the MINI badge on – would BMW want to produce a smaller, two door Countryman when it seemed the whole point of the Countryman was to have a ‘Big MINI’?
It would seem the Range Rover Evoque has a lot to do with it. It looks as if BMW are taking the threat from the premium Evoque seriously and are making plans to have product to compete. It seems that they are also looking at the BMW X4 – as we recently reported – as well as the MINI Canyon to take the fight to the Evoque.
If the MINI Canyon is for real – and so far we can’t get any confirmation from anyone in the know – it seems likely we would also get a production version of the MINI Beachcomber concept from last year – based on the same setup but without doors – and probably the already mooted 7-seater MINI Countryman we reported on earlier this year.
Amphibious MINI next?
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