According to the British press, Mini Cooper is planning a comeback in the WRC (World Rally Championship) with its new 4X4, named by many the Mini Countryman. The new Mini Countryman will be based on the MINI Crossover Concept and is expected in the showrooms next year.
The Mini Countryman is on course for the 2011 WRC season in order to mark the launch of the John Cooper Works version of the expected crossover. The rumor says the unit under the hood of the new Mini Countryman JCW will be a turbocharged 1.6 liter petrol engines, but its power figures are not known yet.
Mini Cooper had various victories in the World Rally Championship, including the one of Paddy Hopkirk, who won the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally. BMW hopes to bring back the good rally days for Mini with the new 4x4 crossover.
[Source: Autocar]
