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Mini Taking Its Battle Vs. Rivals To The Max

  • MSNBC, Thursday, August 19, 2010 10:45 AM
The British brand is going less-mini, introducing Countryman, a crossover SUV that is four inches wide, six inches taller and 16 inches longer than its classic Mini Cooper, reports Paul A. Eisenstein.

Why? After a big run-up in 2008, declining fuel prices got American motorists thinking big again. And Mini simply hadn't done much to update the Cooper beyond the addition of a convertible. U.S. sales last year fell from a 2008 peak of 54,000 to just 47,000.

So, Mini went looking for a way to not just keep its product fresh but acknowledge American market realities by bulking up a bit. "We've gone from astonishingly small to small," says Jim McDowell, Mini's top American executive.

The new Countryman is expected to go on sale in January.

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