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MINI Clubman on the Way

The reincarnation of the MINI has attracted a lot of admirers and for goodreason. These brightly colored retro machines are adorable, well built, and an absolute hoot to drive. On the downside, their complex multi-link rear suspensions and small dimensions mean that there's little by the way of rear cabin accommodations or cargo space. Making the MINI daily transport for a family of four requires some serious love and dedication, but for most it's just too small. Which is where the Clubman comes in, a bigger MINI for people with more sizable needs.

The Clubman (previously thought to be the Traveller) isn't a particularly well-kept secret, with plenty of speculations, renderings and spy photos floating around on the internet.

MINI debuted several themed versions of the Clubman over the past year. This is the original, the Frankfurt. (Photo: MINI)

We also saw MINI preview five different dressed up versions, displayed in different cultural liveries like a child on Halloween night. Picnic hampers, spanners, and ski equipment aside, they showed uswhat the next-gen MINI (already here) and the forthcoming wagon might look like.

Development mules have also been caught out in the wild without camouflage, meaning that the so-called Clubman is right around the corner. From what we're able to see, the extended MINI wagon doesn't look very different from

Big doors, suicide doors and Dutch doors... (Photo: MINI)

the regular wheelbase version, at least head on, which doesn't surprise us in the slightest. Aside from late production Clubmans that featured rectangular headlamps and different fascias, the majority of original production Clubmans looked identical to the regular MINI of the era. In terms of the wagon's mods, we were able to establish that it has an extended wheelbase, and it's not going to be a five-door hatchback as was predicted. The MINI Clubman will have two main doors for entry and exit (like now), but the passenger's side will have a rear-hinged access door. The driver's side has an extended length panel of glass and a B-pillar in the regular position.

Insiders report that the car will make a prototype debut at this year's Frankfurt

A preliminary sketch of the Clubman in Hot Chocolate brown. (Photo: MINI)

motor show, with the production model to be introduced at next year's NAIAS in Detroit. Sales should commence during the third quarter of 2008 as a 2009 model, with North American sales starting during the winter of that year. The Mk.II MINI Convertible should provide a bridge in between to tide over consumers.

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