First glimpse of Mini Paceman 19 | 12 | 2010

THIS IS your first glimpse of the all-new Mini Paceman. The car, substantially based on the five-door Mini Countryman, will be officially unveiled at next month's Detroit Motor Show, the 10th anniversary of the brand’s relaunch in the USA.

Take a deep breath, because when it enters Mini showrooms across Scotland it will be the most expensive Mini so far; prices are expected to start around £22,000 for a front-drive version, rising to £26,000 and beyond.

Tipped to go into production in 2012, the Paceman is designed as an upmarket, compact coupe and is aimed at becoming the first ‘Sports Activity Coupe’ in the small car segment. When the Paceman goes on sale in Scotland it's likely to only be available with the most powerful Mini engines.

With little chance of there ever being a 'One' version of the Paceman, the Detroit show car is being shown with a tuned version of the John Cooper Works petrol engine, now with 212bhp and hooked up to Mini’s ALL4 permanent four-wheel drive system.

Based on the current Mini Countryman, the Paceman uses the same platform and floor structure and the same inner structure up to and including the bulkhead. The newcomer also also uses the Countryman's windscreen, albeit with 20mm shaved off its height. It's worth highlighting that from the screen rearwards, the Paceman gets an entirely new exterior. It's 4110mm long, marginally more than the Countryman, even though the front bumper is 20mm shorter.

First glimpses are all that's needed to see the fact the Paceman has a much wedgier and dynamic profile than its sister car. The Mini design team have taken full advantage of the Paceman's long doors, which have been designed specifically for the new car, to incorporate a rising window line which flows into the new rear wing. The natural progression of this is it further kicks up towards the roof.

At the rear of the car, the Paceman's lights are substantial and cut right across into the tailgate; this gives the car a very un-Mini-like rear elevation. But with the car's wide track, sloping roof and narrower glasshouse, the rear wheels are well outboard of side windows. The attractive result of this is the Paceman look extremely purposeful from the rear.

Inside the cabin, the concept uses the same interior as the Countryman (including the elliptical door trim design) but the Paceman will have redesigned seats in quilt-stitch tan leather front and rear. Cleverly, the two rear seats will be individually shaped, but manufactured in one piece; in many ways similar to the layout in the VW Scirocco. Despite the coupe styling, the front seats will continued to be mounted higher than in a conventional road car.

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Jim McGill