MINI launches the world’s first premium compact delivery van.

 Richmond Hill. With two seats, five doors and wall-to-wall MINI style and personality, the MINI Clubvan – the world’s first premium compact delivery van – has it all. With this groundbreaking model, based on the MINI Clubman platform, MINI is translating the brand’s hallmark driving fun and inherent charisma to new applications aimed at the urban user. As the first premium vehicle of its kind, the MINI Clubvan sets new standards of style, quality and driving fun in the small car-based van segment. For the first time, trend-conscious commercial users can now make a stylish and sophisticated statement when carrying out deliveries to their equally discerning customers.

The enhanced functionality offered by the MINI Clubvan is based on a closed-off load area extending from the rear doors right up to the driver’s and front passenger’s seats. Cargo can be easily accessed either through the wide-opening split rear door or via the right-side Clubdoor. With its two-seater configuration, its fixed partition between the passenger compartment and load area, and its opaque, blocked-out rear side windows, the MINI Clubvan is the first commercial-oriented vehicle in the growing MINI lineup.

The MINI Clubvan will arrive in Canada late 2012 in one variant, the MINI Cooper Clubvan. Based on the MINI Cooper Clubman, the MINI Cooper Clubvan will also share the familiar four-cylinder 1.6 litre engine with fully variable valve management technology with the MINI Cooper Clubman and other Cooper stablemates. With an output of 121hp at 6,000 rpm and maximum torque of 115 ft-lb at 4,250 rpm, the Clubvan is poised to create an entirely new niche in commercial transit, with typical MINI attributes: crisp performance, super-agile handling and exceptional fuel economy.

The MINI Clubvan: unique concept with historic roots.

The MINI Clubvan is built at the MINI plant in Oxford. Its roots, too, are firmly in the British Isles. They can be traced back to 1960, when the original Mini – just one year after its launch – was followed up by a further creative and space-efficient solution in the form of the Morris Mini Van. This van model, with a wheelbase extended by ten centimetres, a closed-off load compartment and split rear door, offered exactly the sort of extra functionality urban commercial users of the time were looking for.

Now the MINI Clubvan is poised to follow in the footsteps of its early forerunner and carry this tradition forward into the 21st century – in the same way and with the same panache as the MINI Clubman is already reprising the success of the fully glazed, four-seater Morris Mini Traveller, also from the 1960s.

First-class styling coupled with premium-class cargo transport.

The MINI Clubvan is a versatile choice both for upmarket commercial applications and for non-mainstream leisure and lifestyle use. It is in its element whenever special cargo-carrying jobs need to be handled in style. Its dimensions, with a length of 3,961 mm, a width of 1683 mm, a height of 1,426 mm and a wheelbase of 2,547 mm, are the same as those of the MINI Clubman. Its tailored and functionally minded design has been achieved by taking out the rear seats and adding a range of customised features. The blocked-out, opaque rear side windows are body-coloured, with an interior polycarbonate reinforcement. In combination with tinted glass in the rear doors, this keeps the load compartment well concealed from prying eyes.

In the interior, the flat loading floor and the side walls are trimmed in high-quality carpeting, while an anthracite roof liner runs the full length of the vehicle. 12-volt sockets in the cargo area can be used to power electrical equipment. Six attachment loops recessed into the floor at the edge of the load area can be used to secure cargo of all shapes and sizes, preventing items from sliding around when the vehicle is on the move.

The partition behind the driver’s and front passenger’s seats, comprising a lower solid aluminium section and an upper section of stainless steel mesh, is firmly attached to the vehicle body. The partition prevents objects in the load compartment from slamming forward into the passenger compartment under heavy braking. It also allows loading right up to the roof, so that full use can be made of the rear compartment’s 860 litres of load space. The cargo area is 115 centimetres long and, even at its narrowest point just behind the rear doors, is 102 centimetres wide. Maximum payload capacity is 500 kilograms.

The MINI Clubvan lends business an individual and exclusive touch.

The MINI Clubvan’s innovative blend of clean and uncluttered practicality and exclusive premium characteristics makes for a distinctive presence around town. This innovative vehicle concept is tailored in particular to the needs of commercial users such as fashion designers, event caterers, architects or photographers whose businesses supply exclusive products and services to discerning customers and who are also looking to express their appreciation of premium quality and individual style in their choice of vehicle. Whether as a mobile calling card for small businesses or as a stylish addition to a wider vehicle fleet, the MINI Clubvan makes a bold and innovative choice of delivery vehicle for commercial users, and one whose typical MINI driving fun and instantly identifiable charisma are guaranteed to make a winning and lasting impression.

The new MINI Cooper Clubvan will be available as an option package as part of the MINI Clubman model lineup, available in an appealing suite of colors and extensive list of optional equipment, debuting as a 2013 model. Detailed specifications, including pricing and available options for the MINI Cooper Clubvan will be announced closer to market launch late 2012.

BMW Group in Canada

BMW Group Canada, based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMW AG and is responsible for the distribution of BMW luxury performance automobiles, Sports Activity Vehicles, Motorcycles, and MINI.  BMW Group Financial Services Canada is a division of BMW Group Canada and offers retail financing and leasing programs and protection products on new and pre-owned BMW and MINI automobiles, as well as retail financing for new and pre-owned BMW Motorcycles. A total network of 44 BMW automobile retail centres, 20 BMW motorcycle retailers, and 29 MINI retailers represents the BMW Group across the country.

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 For more information, please contact:

Barb Pitblado, Director, Corporate Communications

BMW Group Canada

905-428-5005 / barb.pitblado@bmwgroup.ca      

Rob Dexter, Product and Technology Specialist

BMW Group Canada

905-428-5447 / robert.dexter@bmwgroup.ca