Mini Confirms Future SUV
In a very dry press release announcing a partnership for future production, Mini casually confirmed it would indeed build an SUV. Called a sport activity vehicle, the new SUV will be outsourced — built in Austria by the same company that built the BMW X3. This allows Mini to maintain its current level of production on the Mini Cooper, Cooper convertible and Cooper Clubman to continue meeting demand while also bringing a new model to market quickly. There’s no official word on how big the new vehicle will be, nor are there many other details. The code name for the project is Colorado, but we doubt the final product will be named that. The SUV should also come with all-wheel drive, a first for Mini. We’d expect the new Mini SUV to go on sale sometime in 2009, possibly hitting the car show circuit late next year.
