Tag Archives: Mini Clubvan

Automobiles

Report: Mini Clubvan axed after just 50 sales

Leave a comment

By Steven J. Ewing

Mini Cooper Clubvan

Filed under:

Well, that didn’t last long. According to Green Car Reports, Mini has discontinued the Clubvan from its model range in the United States.

Nathalie Bauters, Mini’s US communications manager, cited “relatively low demand and the effect of an excessive 25-percent tax on vehicles for commercial use (known as ‘the Chicken Tax‘)” as the key reasons for axing the Clubman from our market, GCR reports. The 2013 Clubvan launched in the US earlier this year, and to date roughly 50 examples have been sold.

The Clubvan, based on the Clubman model, features a flat load floor behind the two front seats, with blacked-out (well, body-colored) side windows. This nifty little cargo wagon could carry up to 33 cubic feet of goods, which while useful, pales in comparison to more capacious offerings like the Ford Transit Connect van.

Bauters told Green Car Reports that “sales of the Mini Clubvan have been strong in other markets worldwide, many of which benefit from tax advantages,” meaning the model will likely carry on elsewhere in the world.

Mini Clubvan axed after just 50 sales originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Jul 2013 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog

Automobiles

First Drive: 2014 Mini Cooper Clubvan

Leave a comment

By Matt Davis

Filed under: , , , ,

A Premium Van For The Modern-Day Milkman

We first saw the Mini Clubvan at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2012, then in December again at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Based on a stock Mini Clubman, the Clubvan’s dimensions are identical, while all side windows aft of the middle pillar are blocked out from the inside with handy polycarbonate liners (read: fancy plastic) and have body color skin on the outside, while the rear windows are tinted to boot. It looks like a van and works like a van, so it must be a van. A Mini-van, though.

Where is Mini going with this relatively low-cost (to the company) product line extension? The chief market for this nimble little hauler is cities in Great Britain where they were frequently in bygone days identified as milk delivery vans. These days, though, there are – even in the US now – lower cost smaller urban delivery vans from Ford, Ram and Nissan. Therefore, the spin is that the Mini Clubvan is designed to cater to smaller boutique firms in need of making a fashionable impression while delivering the goods to people living in penthouses and such. Think: Florists, caterers, and so on.

Continue reading 2014 Mini Cooper Clubvan

2014 Mini Cooper Clubvan originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog

Automobiles

Report: Mini Clubvan ready for boutique chic delivery duty from $25,985

Leave a comment

By John Neff

Filed under:

The light commercial vehicle market has exploded in recent years. With a too-large full-size van no longer the only option for small businesses looking for an enclosed cargo carrier, options like the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Ford Transit Connect and now this, the Mini Clubvan, are now available to suit every size need.

Unveiled at last year’s Geneva Motor Show, the Clubvan will soon be on sale here in the US and we finally have details about what that transaction will cost you. Motoring File reports that the Clubvan’s price will be $25,985, which includes the so-called “chicken tax” and a $700 destination and handling charge.

Other questions that were answered include whether or not the Clubvan can be ordered as a Cooper S or even John Cooper Works model, and the answer is no (why do need to deliver cakes that fast anyway?). Also, Mini has confirmed you can’t take the shortcut of creating your own Clubvan by purchasing a standard Clubman and removing the rear seats. The factory Clubvan features steel side panels instead of vinyl coverings over the rear windows, as well as a fully flat load floor and a safety cage protecting front seat occupants.

The Clubvan’s price slots in just above the $25,100 Clubman Cooper S model (a standard Clubman starts at $21,400). It has a payload capacity of 1,102 pounds and will consume about 30.37 cubic-feet of stuff in its cargo area, which features six attachment loops and is fitted with 12-volt sockets. The Clubvan, of course, also features the Clubman’s unique arrangement of five doors that includes a mini front-hinged door behind the front passenger’s door, and two side-hinged vertical doors in the rear.

Mini Clubvan ready for boutique chic delivery duty from $25,985 originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog