The other day, as I was sharing the image above with one of my colleague, he complained that MINI has 'lost' its edge, producing such a big, un-MINI-like, pointless car: The MINI Countryman. He's even more weary of the new Paceman. We've all heard this countless times, though. While I, of course, defended MINI's position on its behalf with countless sound reasons, I understood that rejecting something new that disturbs one's perception is only a natural human reaction. (It is noteworthy, however, that he has never driven any MINI!) Regardless of those naysayers, however, MINI has been enjoying quite a success with the Countryman, celebrating it 250,00th production only few weeks ago. And it was 204th best selling car in the whole world in 2012 with 102,250 units sold! (including Paceman) While the 204th place ranking may not be that impressive to you, when you place it in a comparison with MINI hardtop/clubman and other variants numbers, ranking at #104 with 199,276 units sold, it gets interesting. Basically in just 2.5 years since its introduction, 1 in 3 MINIs sold worldwide is now the 'bigger' MINI - Countryman & Paceman. US market also reflects that as Countryman takes roughly 38% MINIs sold year-to-date. Remember Nissan Juke? The car the journalists around the world love to put against MINI Countryman due to its relatively similar price, concept, and appeal? It ranks at respective #85 with 232,128 units sold.
