MINI considering 2-door off-road coupe SUV

An enthusiast always hates change. Economic realities and the hunger for change by the buying public make these companies develop different variants. If the manufacturers had a long line of customers satisfied with the original, they would stay the course. Think of all of the trends in the industry in the last cuple of decades...wagons were replaced by minivans, relaced by SUV's, then Cuv's, then hybrids...who knows what'll be next.

Don't forget the 6-wheeled premium executive City-SUV with an AWD 250bhp Cooper S Works Cabriolet version. It'll be called the Mini Madman.

hahahaha u took the time to cite the source!!

Who? At BMW I think it is a bunch of people who know what their customers want! BMW seems rather good at making money. Even during the economic down turn the world has been thru and is still going thru in many places BMW, VW group and a few others are facing the challenge rather than running from it with tails between legs. "Fortes fortuna adiuvat"

All based on the original Issigonis model which was no bigger than it needed to be and, arguably, gave us the supermini sector that dominates the European car industry. The current MINI didn't deserve comparison from the very first models in 2002. As we read about SUVs it drifts even further away from the original, in terms of meeting a brief of purity and in setting the agenda as opposed to following it.

The thing is that the Mini became many different things - a rally car, an off-roader (Moke), cheap basic transport for the masses, a utility vehicle (van, pickup), a movie star, a style icon, and so on - and BMW are focused on the wrong things. Is theirs a cheap, basic, utilitarian vehicle for the masses? No. Not by a long shot. Is it a fashion item that has appeared in movies? Yes. That's clearly the Mini they're interested in. Besides, when was there ever a 2dr SUV or a Coup? version of the original (the Moke doesn't count, because that had no doors)? They're just making what they can get away with selling, which, with a badge combo like that, equates to just about anything. It may resemble a Mini, but if cars could talk, the Issigonis original would say "You're no son of mine. And stop humping that BMW X6. You'll end up with all kinds of niche-car rubbish if you keep doing that...".

There is barely a difference. One is just more stupid than the other. Besides, BMW had no reason to capitalise it. MINI isn't an acronym.