MINI's Latest Foray Into Pointless Variations
Evo magazine has got their hands on the latest variant from MINI – the three-door Paceman. Yes, it’s a Countryman SUV with three doors.
Why does this exist? The short answer; because there’s a three-door Range Rover Evoque. The long answer is of course, economies of scale, volume and all that fun stuff.
The thing is, there is a precedent for a three-door Evoque. Before the double-R became transportation of choice for the Hollywood C-List reality TV star set, there was a three-door Range available on the other side of the Atlantic. Of course, Mini has a long history of three door cars, and the Countryman did exist once upon a time in the pre-BMW era. But the Paceman is just a shameless ploy at adding more volume and yet another variant to the MINI range. The sloping roof is pretty much stolen directly from the Evoque, too. Can you say, derivative?
More by Derek Kreindler
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I prefer the other double-R
I know it sounds strange, but do we really want/need a tighter Countryman?
MINI could get this thing out to market, and SAAB didn't get a chance to produce the 9-2 that they were THIS close to doing. It was going to use BMW/MINI engines too! Life isn't fair sometimes.
I don't quite understand the justification for this model or the coupe from Mini. What I really don't get, however, is how BMW can justify making and importing so many small-volume variants of the Mini but other companies can't justify offering Americans versions of cars they sell overseas like small wagons, Diesels, or even manual transmissions? I understand that volumes might be low, but they don't even try. I would have to imagine that the sales volume of something like a Chevy Cruze wagon would dwarf something like this 3-door Mini SUV.... And they already have it all engineered and built for other markets.