Mini Countryman

Cutesy SUV grows up, with an electric variant offered from the outset On sale Late 2023 Price from £35,000 (est)

- Darren Moss

IN THE WORLD of professional boxing, just 3kg is enough to change which division a fighter competes in, so a couple of trips to the gym buffet could mean facing Big Bruce rather than Flyweight Frank. In the same vein, the fact that the next Mini Countryman will be slightly bigger than today's car opens up a proverbial can of worms, suddenly putting it in competition with a long list of family SUV rivals.

The new car's greater length should bring rear seat passengers more leg room than today's car, as well as more space in the boot for their luggage. And it'll need it; the current Countryman is practical by the standards of other small SUVs such as the Ford Puma and Skoda Kamiq, but the new model needs to hold its corner against the larger Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai.

The new Countryman will share its underpinnings with the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer and Gran Coupé, as well as the X1 small SUV, and like the latter, it'll be available in pure electric form from the outset. In fact, the electric Countryman will use the same dual-motor set-up as the iX1 electric SUV, one powering the front wheels, the other the rears.