For those who would like an opposite case, the Japanese Mitsubishi Debonair was produced for thirty-five years, two-thirds of which in the original generation. Working with how often a vehicle is changed, whether completely or partially, enables the company to affect the image it’ll have before the public. Those which get frequent nips and tucks are strongly dependent of short-term prospects, and take their sales from always trying to adapt to the market’s successive changes. Those who follow the opposite strategy wind up with very different images as well: they tend to make the customers adapt to what it has to offer. When they actually like that, the company only has to do whatever it’s possible to maintain this demand for as long as possible.
Countryman’s case is a great example of the last case for two reasons. The first one comes from birth, by having taken the very strong image of its little brother Cooper. Mini had the intention of extending it to a larger vehicle, in order to attract more customers without affecting the original product’s characteristics. The second reason is that it managed to create its own demand, achieving great sales around the world with different customers from those who buy the hatchback. Sure, the only innovation featured here is to use four doors on a Mini, but it’s also true that this “trend follower” appeared just in the right time: its first debut dates back to 2010, when both Mini’s modern image and the crossover segment were at a very favorable moment.
Four years later, while there still are many people buying from BMW’s English division, there are also so many crossovers that standing out would require a hypercar of some sort. So now it’s time for Mini to take advantage of having arrived early. Countryman reaches 2015 with a series of minor changes, whose intention goes as far as taking the attention once again to what’s pretty much the same car. The exterior received an optional Piano Black item package, daytime and fog lights in LEDs, new wheel designs, retouched front grilles for some trim levels (each one corresponds to a different engine, by the way) and three color options: Starlight Blue, Midnight Gray and Jungle Green.
When it comes to the cabin, the crossover honored the majority of young customers who choose it by having its connectivity functions increased. Now it’s possible for the infotainment system to access a long list of services and applications, working almost as another mobile phone or tablet. This vehicle had its first appearance during this year’s New York Auto Show, and is expected to hit the streets later this year. Considering that nothing else was changed, you’ll still be able to choose between the 121-hp Cooper, the 180-hp Cooper S, and the 208-hp John Cooper Works, besides the diesel variations. Those three, as always, are different versions of the very same turbocharged, four-cylinder 1.6L engine.