While its true that the original Mini designed itself primarily for the UK market BMW/Mini would completely fail if they tried this today. Every day manufactures around the world produce items that may or may not be optimized for their own countries, as soon as your looking at selling on the global market it changes many things. The base fact is Mini’s are sold in 52 countries around the world, so as hard to take in the RHD markets I can completely understand why Mini made the choices it did.

I do wonder if Mr. Simister would be any happier if the Clubman was sold for quite a bit more than it will be to offset the development of a platform for the RHD markets alone? Imperfect solutions are sadly nothing new, I just hope that the Clubman sells well enough for BMW to address the RHD markets legitimate concerns.

..that car [the MINI Clubman] is already fatally flawed because the side that has two passenger doors is the right-hand side, even on right-hand drive cars. For a car built in the UK, and inspired by a British past, this smacks of breathtaking arrogance.”

Mark my words… MINI will order an “emergency” facelift of the Clubman 1-2 years after initial launch to counter attack press criticism and sagging sales.

Who will be affected after all is said and done? The initial batch of customers that purchased the Clubman with one “comfort door” that now will have a prematurely obsolete car with less than ideal residuals.

As much as I like the R55 bad decisions made by parent company need to be called out for what they are.

At least MINI UK’s PR has had the cojones to come out and admit that the rear door’s placement, after all, was a mistake. How bad it is? We will not know until after the car is out in the market.

An Irish auto journalist called MINI’s decision to place the rear door on the driver’s side of RHD Clubmans “Sheer arrogance” that flies on the face of the British history and origin of this car.

Could not agree more.

This will be a disaster. I often wonder who is approving these out of whack decisions up in Munich..

If you cross reference the list with the countries Mini sells in it gives a little clearer picture.

15 of the countries are RHD, 37 are LHD

While there are several large LHD markets the sheer volume of RHD markets outweighs the LHD market. On a geographical basis of course this means the British Isles are affected, most of the Pacific Rim countries affected by this also. as are a few countries in the Mediterranean. However RHD dominate mainland Europe, and Eurasia (the former Soviet Union and China), also all of the America’s. This explains pretty well why Mini made the choices they did. Hopefully the sales will be great enough to convince them that there is a reason to try to figure something out for the LHD markets.

I’ve said it before, but the Detroit show is an INTERNATIONAL show, with 6000 journalists from around the world. It’s a side benefit that they open it up to the locals after the media days, but what’s important about the NAIAS is not local sales, it’s international exposure. LA, New Yourk and Chicago are awesome shows, but people who count local sales are not “getting” the big picture of a show like NAIAS, sorry.

R Afghanistan R Albania R Algeria R American Samoa R Andorra R Angola L Anguilla L Antigua and Barbuda R Argentina R Armenia R Aruba L Australia R Austria R Azerbaijan L Bahamas R Bahrain L Bangladesh L Barbados R Belarus R Belgium R Belize R Benin L Bermuda L Bhutan R Bolivia R Bosnia and Herzegovina L Botswana R Brazil R British Indian Ocean Territory (Diego Garcia) L Brunei R Bulgaria R Burkina Faso R Burundi R Cambodia R Cameroon R Canada R Cape Verde L Cayman Islands R Central African Republic R Chad R Chile R China, People’s Republic of (Mainland China) L Christmas Island (Australia) L Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia) R Colombia R Comoros R Congo L Cook Islands R Costa Rica R Croatia R Cuba L Cyprus R Czech Republic R Denmark R Djibouti L Dominica R Dominican Republic L East Timor R Ecuador R Egypt R El Salvador R Equatorial Guinea R Eritrea R Estonia R Ethiopia L Falkland Islands R Faroe Islands (Denmark) L Fiji R Finland R France R French Guiana R French Polynesia R Gabon R Gambia, The R Gaza Strip R Georgia R Germany R Ghana R Gibraltar R Greece R Greenland L Grenada R Guadeloupe (French West Indies) R Guam R Guatemala L Guernsey (Channel Islands) R Guinea R Guinea-Bissau L Guyana R Haiti R Honduras L Hong Kong R Hungary R Iceland L India L Indonesia R Iran R Iraq L Ireland R Israel L Isle of Man R Italy R Ivory Coast L Jamaica L Japan L Jersey (Channel Islands) R Jordan R Kazakhstan L Kenya L Kiribati R Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of (North Korea) R Korea, Republic of (South Korea) R Kuwait R Kyrgyzstan R Laos R Latvia R Lebanon L Lesotho R Liberia R Libya R Liechtenstein R Lithuania R Luxembourg L Macau R Macedonia R Madagascar L Malawi L Malaysia L Maldives R Mali L Malta R Marshall Islands R Martinique (French West Indies) R Mauritania L Mauritius R Mayotte (France) R Mexico R Micronesia, Federated States of R Midway Islands (USA) R Moldova R Monaco R Mongolia L Montserrat R Morocco L Mozambique R Myanmar (Burma) L Namibia L Nauru L Nepal R Netherlands R Netherlands Antilles (Curacao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, Saba) R New Caledonia L New Zealand R Nicaragua R Niger R Nigeria L Niue L Norfolk Island (Australia) R Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan) R Norway R Oman L Pakistan R Palau R Panama L Papua New Guinea R Paraguay R Peru R Philippines L Pitcairn Islands (Britain) R Poland R Portugal R Puerto Rico R Qatar R Reunion R Romania R Russia R Rwanda R Saint Barth�emy (French West Indies) L Saint Helena L Saint Kitts and Nevis L Saint Lucia R Saint Martin (French West Indies) R Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France) L Saint Vincent and the Grenadines R Samoa R San Marino R Sao Tome e Principe R Saudi Arabia R Senegal L Seychelles R Sierra Leone L Singapore R Slovakia R Slovenia L Solomon Islands R Somalia (a part of Somalia trying to assert independence, Somaliland, also drives on the right) L South Africa R Spain L Sri Lanka R Sudan L Suriname R Svalbard (Norway) L Swaziland R Sweden R Switzerland R Syria R Taiwan R Tajikistan L Tanzania L Thailand R Togo L Tokelau (New Zealand) L Tonga L Trinidad and Tobago R Tunisia R Turkey R Turkmenistan L Turks and Caicos Islands L Tuvalu L Uganda R Ukraine R United Arab Emirates L United Kingdom R United States R Uruguay R Uzbekistan R Vanuatu R Venezuela R Vietnam L Virgin Islands (British) L Virgin Islands (US) R Wake Island (USA) R Wallis and Futuna Islands [Fr.] R West Bank R Western Sahara (ex Spanish Sahara) R Yemen R Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) R Zaire L Zambia L Zimbabwe

I was wondering how many countries use RHD as opposed to LHD? Seems more countries have RHD? Yes? No? Maybe I’m wrong.

Still hate the rear doors, as to the side door… I wonder if BMW did that for the states because most states have strict laws about passengers exiting on the street side? I also wonder about the added weight of the structural requirements of having another side door. The rear doors are just silly.

And in reality, if you are single or a couple … the R56 does just fine for hauling pretty much anything.

The extra door doesn’t seem to be much aid to anything significant in accesibility. Also I heard before that MINI IS NOT marketing the car for couples with small kids … so not sure why they are “apologizing” for the location of the door. Adults are more than capable of watching for traffic :)

OK. Makes sense. Thanks Jon. Sorry Aussom.

Nope. You will have to have the driver’s door open before you can open the Clubdoor, in the RHD version.

From a safety perspective – if the suicide door presents a structural weakness, I would much rather prefer it to be on the LHS because I’m the only person in the vehicle most of the time and would prefer stronger driver side protection.

I will still most likely buy a Clubman regardless of which side the suicide door is on.

I can compleatly understand how this will affect those in RHD markets. The fact though if they would have set up a second Clubman for the RHD market it would have driven the development and production costs up, and the sales price. I am sure they have spent a lot of time and effort to figure out likely this will do for their markets long before the first production model was made.