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Mini John Cooper Works Paceman is a hot hatch crossover coupe

The Mini John Cooper Works Paceman, the seventh in the JCW line and called "the first Sports Activity Coupe in its class," is here. It takes its place at the top of the Paceman food chain with a 1.6-liter, twin-scroll turbocharged engine putting out 218 horsepower, with 201 pound-feet of torque on tap and 221 lb-ft available with overboost. Those numbers get the JCW Paceman from zero to 62 miles per hour in 6.9 seconds with either the six-speed manual or automatic transmission, but top speed with the automatic is one mile per hour shy of the manual's 140 mph. Fuel economy has been rated at a combined 35.8 US mpg on the EU cycle.
It earns its JCW stripes with a suspension that's been lowered by 10 millimeters over 18-inch lightweight alloys, Mini's ALL4 all-wheel drive, an aero kit to beef up its profile, plus a sports exhaust with dual chrome pipes. Inside, a sport steering wheel and plenty of contrasting materials represent the lineage, further emboldened by Chili Red accents to match the exterior.
The Mini JCW Paceman will say "'Allo, guv'nor" to the world at the Detroit Auto Show next month, then hit showrooms in March. The press release just below can tell you all you want to know about it until then.

Mini could go even bigger with next Countryman

We recently reported that the new family of Minis could balloon from eight models to ten or more, but it's not only the model line that's expected to grow: so too could the largest model itself. That, of course, would be the Countryman, which is already bigger than anything else ever to wear the Mini badge. But if you think the current Countryman is already big enough, the latest reports suggest that it could get even bigger. Apparently parent company BMW feels a larger Mini crossover would better compete with more mainstream models in the marketplace.
The Countryman, however, will only be one of the new variants to spin off of the new third-generation Mini. Expect the new Hardtop hatchback introduced in LA to be followed by a new Cabriolet, Roadster, and Paceman. A five-door version of the base hatchback will also join in addition to the new Clubman, which is tipped to get a split tailgate instead of the single hinged aperture on the current model. The jury's still out on the Mini Coupe, which has largely failed to impress, while a convertible crossover could be back in the mix along with the rumored plug-in hybrid version.

BMW restores classic Mini as it revives production in Netherlands

Mini will be kicking off production in the Netherlands, a country that hasn't built a Mini-badged machine since 1966. In honor of this event, BMW Group Classic, the team responsible for all the cars in the BMW Museum, as well as being a spare parts and restoration company in its own right, revived a classic 1959 Austin Seven. That particular car, number 983, was one of the first Minis to be built in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands' JJ Molenaar's Car Companies built 4,000 Austin Sevens and Morris Mini-Minors between 1959 and 1966, although we imagine Dutch Mini production will be much bigger when it starts up again in summer 2014. A five-person team from VDL Nedcar, the group handling production of new Minis, took to the job of restoring the diminutive British car from nose to tail.
The 34-horsepower engine and the transmission were both completely rebuilt, while the door panels were redone by hand. Help from the Mini community aided the VDL Nedcar team in finding authentic replicas or original parts where possible. All told, the new classic Mini is a striking example of what a good restoration can do to a car. The Seven was repainted in its original Farina Gray, adding to the car's sense of authenticity.