MINI ist in Bewegung

Nothing is more quintessentially British than an old Mini (save fagging at Eton). The new German-owned MINI, on the other hand, is a German car in all but place of manufaktur. In a move that pushes the MINI concept even further away from its spiritual origins, The Globe reveals that a Canadian company will build an estimated 40k of MINI's Don't-call-it-an-SUV SUV in Austria. Canadian auto-parts maker MAGNA CORP has won the contract to build the new "Mini-based Multi-Activity Vehicle" (MBMAV?). As predicted here, it will do so at its Magna-Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, shifting X3 production stateside in 2009. For those of you keeping score at home, MAGNA made a play for Chrysler after it was dumped by Daimler, and recently unionized its work force in advance of a possible second go.