Carmaker Mini plans to bring electric models to US

[jpak]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jul/23/automotive.usa

The US car market may be moving toward Mini's kind of small, fashionable and fuel-efficient vehicles, and the British brand will be ready as it prepares to launch its first electric vehicles in the US in 2009 and a small crossover utility vehicle not long after.

Mini would also like to offer a diesel engine if it can develop one that gets at least 50 mpg on the highway in US environmental protection agency tests and meets strict emissions standards in California and north-east states, said Jim McDowell, vice-president of Mini USA.

"The world is moving in our direction," McDowell said yesterday in Birmingham, Michigan. "The overall market is down 10%, but small-car sales are up 11%. People are trading in Ford F-150s and Hummers for Minis."

Mini will add 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles to the allotment its US dealers get this year, he said. Sales for the brand, which BMW owns, soared 33.9%, to 26,400 cars for the first half of 2008 in the US.

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