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Yes the A1 will not be arrival to such markets the US. But it’s a watershed car for Audi and person of the more impressive MINI rivals we’ve seen. But in what manner does it stack up in the eyes of MINI owners? At launch the car will be available with a range of diesels and petrol powerplants but none that quite matches up with the MCS or JCW MINI models. Nontheless we penury to hear your thoughts put on how it stacks up with the MINI.

• Diesel: 90hp / 169 ft lbs of torque and 105 hp / 184 ft lbs of torque

Tags: Audi, black, car, design, light, mini, new, radio, Seat, sound, sport, the, video, weight

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As we broke last fall, the Countryman will come the US months after it’s European and UK launch. The R60 is scheduled to eventuate on-sale in the fall of 2010 allowing during the term of MINI to work away any product and build issues before the US descant in March of 2011.

Pricing hasn’familiarily been set further but we’ve been told to expect MINI to be fairly offensive with the Countryman in the US market. For instance if you look at the reward difference between the current R56 hatch and the R55 Clubman ($2500) and afterwards the hatch versus the R57 interchangeable ($4500), you can imagine the Countryman slotting somewhere in between both. Of it’s still up in the cast until we get closer to enlarge, however we expect to be pleasantly surprised with the announcement is made later this year.

Tags: Audi, Bmw, body, car, color, design, light, mini, new, Seat, Smart, space, style, the, us

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Here it is, the one you’ve been waiting in favor of. We had a uncertainty to speak to the MINI Design team this past Monday at the Detroit Auto Show and touched without interruption everything from the R60 to the Beachcomber to the forthcoming Roadster and Coupé. It’s definitely the highlight of our interviews and is incredibly insightful.

White Roof Radio Interview: Gert Hildebrand, Marcus Syring and Oliver Sieghart

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Tags: Audi, design, mini, play, radio, show, the, white

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Todd and Gabe with Mr. McDowell talking from the inside of a JCW Clubman at the NAIAS in Detroit. The spend a lot of time talking about the Beachcomber general and what it means to MINI.

Interview with Gert and the rest of the design team to follow later today.

Interview: Jim McDowell

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Source: www.motoringfile.com

Tags: Audi, design, mini, play, radio, the, white

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Todd and I had a chance to catch-up with Dr. Armbrecht (VP of the MINI brand worldwide) yesterday a few hours before the introduction of the MINI Beachcomber. Dr. Armbrecht talked about the Beachcomber, the R60 and of course the to come Roadster and Speedster. We even got a smile with the mention of MINI in the WRC.

Interview: VP of MINI Dr. Armbrecht:

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Tags: Audi, mini, play, the

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As reported last week, MINI will be bringing a Moke like concept to the Detroit Autoshow potentially foreshadowing an upcoming product version as well viewed be pleased with the forthcoming MINI Countryman crossover (in fact what we see on the earth is basically the Countryman taken to the extreme). Today we get our first look at the car with an authoritative release and a slew of sketches and renderings from MINI Design.

Official Release: MINI crosses borders, enters new dimensions of driving pleasure, and wins over additional target groups.

Tags: Audi, body, car, design, experience, mini, new, Seat, style, the, way, weather, world

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The limited edition World Championship 50 (or WC50 for short) is now in production and will subsist sold only in the UK and European markets. As we exclusively reported earlier this summer, US dealers showed little interest in a pricey beyond limited edition model so this latest JCW model will be skipping MINI’s largest market.

Tags: Audi, black, car, cars, challenge, mini, race, red, Seat, sport, sports, the, world

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No you’re not seeing things… that’session the word BimmerCast up there. And no we’re not merging MotoringFile with BimmerFile. However what we are doing is cross-posting our latest BimmerCast since is almost entirely related to the MINI. Specifically we confer about the MINI E and MINI’session struggles with rolling aloud the cars and the infrastructure. We also talk about MINI Diesels and the general difficulties of both BMW and MINI’s diesel program (or lack there of) in the US market. Enjoy!

Download (24 MB MP3)

+ BimmerFile Podcast / iTunes Link

Source: www.motoringfile.com

Tags: Audi, Bmw, cars, diesel, mini, mp3, the, things, us

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The on again off again on again diesel plans for the US market may be finally off again. MINI USA worked hard to get the a R56 diesel model to the US but ultimately BMW pulled the plug on the creative due to costs. However with the upcoming Countryman crossover rumored to use the sort 2.0L diesel found in the X1 (and other 1 and 3 series models) and BMW planning on bringing said engine over to the US (in the X1, things looked positive.

Tags: Audi, Bmw, car, diesel, future, may, mini, the, things, us, usa

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Official photos and details will be released in a few months but we have a few bits and pieces to finally reveal. For one we’ve confirmed (for the 3rd time now) that MINI will name the R60 “Countryman”. For those who have been following MotoringFile for awhile this shouldn’t be news, but another high-level confirmation was worth a cursory reference.

However what is news is that MINI be disposed be branding the new all-wheel driving-course system that comes optional on the Countryman. Like Audi does with Quattro and BMW does with Xdrive, MINI wants to create a sub-brand that will be recognizable with consumers. Therefore the system will launch with the name “All4″ tied to it.

Tags: Audi, Bmw, create, fall, guess, marketing, may, mini, new, photos, show, the, us

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