A work-ready Mini seems a little odd, but it isn’t exactly unprecedented. The original Mini gave birth to a panel van variant in 1960, which in turn spawned the Traveller Wagon a year later. The Traveler itself inspired today’s Mini Clubman, which in turn serves as the basis of the Clubvan. History seems to be repeating itself, albeit in an inverted manner.
As you can likely glean from its name, the Mini Clubvan is essentially a van-like twist on the existing Mini Clubman model. The rear seats are eliminated in favor of a flat, carpeted load floor, which stretches from the split rear doors to an aluminum bulkhead affixed just aft of the front seats. The rear-hinged third door – located behind the passenger-side door – remains, opaque polycarbonate panels replace the Mini Clubman’s rear quarter windows. Dimensional data has yet to be provided, but we assume the Mini Clubvan’s cargo space is similar to that of the Clubman, which offers 32.8 cubic feet of space with the rear seats folded flat.
Those ideas will soon be put to the test: Mini officials tell us the Clubvan will go on sale in late 2012 as a 2013 model. Pricing is still unknown, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it runs near or just below the $25,000 base price of a 2012 Mini Cooper Clubman.
