Munich - Mini plans to extend its range with a compact SUV study featuring four doors, four-wheel drive and four single seats that will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October. Planned for production in 2010, the teaser images released by the BMW subsidiary show two conventional doors positioned on the passenger side with a third for the driver. The fourth door, for the rear passenger on the driver's side, slides back along the outside of the car for convenient access and loading.
The rear door has a frameless, retractable window and when open, swivels to one side to facilitate the loading of long items, such as skis, snowboards and surfboards.
Capacity can be increased by folding the roof cover which extends across the whole length of the roof.
The four single seats can be adjusted forwards and backwards by up to 13 centimetres in the rear - allowing more legroom for the rear passengers. The front and rear seats are linked visually by a matt-polished aluminium fastening rail which extends from the dashboard through the middle of the car, to the rear.
In the dashboard where we normally find the large speedometer, there is a a new display and control console which hosts all major entertainment, telecommunication and navigation functions. This three dimensional globe can be personalised independently by both the driver and passenger as the display is shown in two hemispheres -allowing the passenger to surf the internet while the driver follows the navigation.
Operated by a touch-sensitive surface, the Mini Centre Globe can also be programmed by a trackball on the steering wheel, buttons or slide controls in the lower section of the globe or even by a keyboard which extends out from the dashboard on the passenger's side.
The Mini Centre Globe also hosts the stop/start function, whereby the driver inserts a Keyball into the upper edge to start and switch off the engine.
