What's in a name...
 

Ok I am a wee bit bothered that the MINI Clubman will be named that.

It is a WAGON by Mini tradition....

THIS is a Clubman
http://www.mini-club-denmark.dk/imag...bman_stor.jpeg

THIS ia a wagon
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._traveller.jpg

For more details see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Cooper

So, a "Traveler" is a wagon with the wood sides then? :confused:

Funny about the wagon in your post, I'm looking at buying one that looks exactly like that one!

I beliebe you are correct.

I would just like to see the names keep with their paralell MINIs.

Make a new front end and call it a Clubman, fine with me, but make a wagon, call it a wagon or traveler or whatever, just not a Clubman.

morris had the Traveller and
austin had the Countryman ;
either came "steel sided" or "timbered" ...
and there was also a Clubman Estate (english for "station wagon") with the square front and fake wood applied nose to tail at the belt line.

the Traveller and Countryman names belong to other companies now (some only in specific markets - neither worldwide) so MINI can't use them the way they would like.

... when i get mine, i think i'll just raid the parts bin and stick an old morris badge on it ...

http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/...man-estate.jpg

This is a true Clubman Estate. Note the squared off front bonnet. They could have just called the new Mini an "Estate", or "Traveler" if it has wood panels.

Ash

Why not go totally British/Retro and call it a Cooper Shooting Brake? :lol:

What bothers me more than the fact they used Clubman is that they are keeping the "Cooper" in the name.

It should be the "MINI Clubman" and "MINI Clubman S". NOT the "MINI Cooper Clubman" and the "MINI Cooper S Clubman". Drop the Cooper, it's a model designation and the Clubman is a different model.

What, were they afraid that "MINI" by itself wouldn't be enough name recognition? :roll:

Cooper is a designation of a power level.
They have a MINI One, a MINI Cooper and a MINI Cooper S. They designate the performance level.
They also have a body designation, i.e. Convertible, Clubman or Coupe. The coupe is the default and is normally left off when describing a MINI. Clubman or Convertible have to be included to distinguish the particular car as a non-coupe.

In Europe, I expect that by the end of 2008, they will have:
MINI One
MINI One D
MINI Cooper
MINI Cooper S
MINI One Convertible
MINI One D Convertible
MINI Cooper Convertible
MINI Cooper S Convertible
MINI One Clubman
MINI One D Clubman
MINI Cooper Clubman
MINI Cooper S Clubman