Will we eventually have it as an option like in Europe? Even if it is not much room for the 3rd person, it would have fit our young family.

This has become a deal breaker for us... With 2 kids (1 1/2 and 3) and an other one planned soon, there is no way we could have made work.

 

You probably should check with MINI Canada on that. It is not offered as an option in Canada mainly because our safety requirements are closely related to that of the US and Canada is not a big enough market to justify a lot of Canada specific configurations. However, MINI does do a few things different and if the bench rear seat meets Canada's DOT requirements, you may be able to convince them to import one. Though I hardly think it would be cost effective. One off's are generally very expensive. Alternatively, you can configure a car for European delivery and maybe you can get it configured with the bench seat as such. Not sure how else that can "legally" be done.

I should add that you probably should wait until the car actually is available for sale in Canada. We don't really know what configurations and options are available until such time.

What some people have done is bring in their cars and then modify them to what they want. ie..rear seat deletes, rear wiper deletes, etc. I'm pretty sure if some can delete the rear seat, you could probably import a bench seat yourself and install or have it installed.

 

Do a search for Countryman bench seat. The latest update that I read announced the bench seat is going to be available to the US market in about 6 months. I'm interested as well but the rear-buckets were a dealbreaker because I need four functioning doors & windows and a bench seat for my labrador retreiver.