Autoweb gives us an Austrailian perspective on the launch of the new MINI convertible downunder. Here's an excerpt:

MINI Cabrio stock arrives in the 24 MINI Garages (throughout Austrailia) for delivery to customers in early January.

MINI Australia expects to deliver around 600 Cabrio models in 2005, subject to availability from the factory.

On sale in Europe for five months, the MINI Cabrio has been a stunning success with more than 13,000 sold to date. The Plant Oxford factory is running at full capacity to build both MINI hardtop and Cabrio models, with more than 160,000 sold this year to the end of October.

You can read it all here.