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2015 Mini Hardtop 5-Door isn't for the country, man [w/video]

We've seen it in super high-res glory, and we can even build one on the automaker's website, but the Paris Motor Show marks the official coming out party for the new Mini Hardtop 4 Door (which is what it's called in the US, despite this Euro car having "5 Door" badging). It's a stretched version of the third-generation Mini Hardtop, but with an extra set of doors for rear seat passengers. Think of it as a more useful Clubman, but with a lower ride height and less rugged-ness than the Countryman. Got it? Good.
Engine options carry over from the normal Mini Hardtop range, with a 1.5-liter turbo-three and a 2.0-liter turbo-four offering 134 and 189 horsepower, respectively. The rest of the car is everything else you know and love from the Mini range, just with a more spacious rear bench. And as you'd expect, there's a nearly endless pallet of customization options.
The Hardtop 4 Door arrives at US dealerships just before the end of the year, commanding a roughly $1,000 premium over its three-door kin. Scope out our new live shots in the gallery above, and take in the extensive press blast, below.

Mini may not build electric cars in England due to Brexit

BMW will decide whether to build its new electric Mini in Britain or elsewhere by the end of September, its board member for sales told Reuters, in a test of the country's ability to continue to attract investment as it leaves the EU. Mini makes around 70 percent of its approximately 360,000 compact cars at its Oxford plant in southern England but the car industry is concerned about the effect any loss of unfettered access to the EU, its largest export market, could have on plants after Brexit. BMW is deciding between its English site, a plant in the Netherlands where it has built more of its conventional line-up in recent years, and its Germany plants at Leipzig and Regensburg for the new low-emissions variant. The firm's board member for sales told Reuters that the electric Mini investment, likely to be worth tens of millions of pounds, would come in the next three months and the board was currently considering a number of factors including Brexit. "One of the elements is what is the likelihood of a tax regime and if there's a tax regime, how would it apply," Ian Robertson said during an interview at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in southern England. "If you made the motor in a German plant and you then assembled the car in a British plant, and you took the cars back to the German market, then the duty that you would pay would be reclaimed," he said, in an example of the options companies are examining to plan for any duties or tariffs. The automaker is also looking into where the uptake of greener models is strongest and where the best supply chains are, he said. Britain could approve its first major electric battery hub in the next few weeks after officials in central England submitted proposals to ministers in May. But last month, the car industry issued its strongest warning yet on the need for politicians to strike a transitional Brexit deal after two-year talks to ensure unfettered trade is maintained. Uncertainty has also been heightened after a snap June 8 election which left Prime Minister Theresa May without a majority and has led to ministers in her administration hinting at different versions of Britain's likely post-Brexit future. Last year, May's administration helped secure two new models at Japanese carmaker Nissan's plant in the north of England after what a source said was a government promise of extra support to counter any loss of competitiveness caused by Brexit.

First Mini John Cooper Works prototype spied

The highlight of Mini's 2014 Detroit Auto Show stand was the arrival of the John Cooper Works Concept, a sportier version of the three-door hatch that presages the next JCW model on the new platform. Now, we have our first images of the production car undergoing winter testing way up north in Sweden.
Really, the Mini camouflage can't hide what this car is. Between the JCW-branded brake calipers and extra intakes in the front fascia, it's fairly easy to see that this is the sportier version of the car our own Jeremy Korzeniewski wrote about last week. We're expecting the JCW variant to pack a fair bit more firepower than the three-cylinder Cooper he tested, of course. Rumors have circulated that the hottest Mini model could jump to 230 horsepower, up from the current, non-GP car's 208.
There are a number of style features missing here, and while it's entirely possible we'll see things like the JCW Concept's diffuser and side gills arrive when this car is shown in production form (or even further along in testing), their absence in these spy photos is telling. We certainly think this car will become the production JCW Hardtop, but there may be another explanation. The lack of certain aesthetic features means this could be a test of the JCW Engine Kit, which in past Minis slotted in between the standard Mini Cooper S and the factory Works car. We'll admit, it's a long-shot, but there is precedent for it - the JCW Tuning Kit arrived a year before the factory model in the last-generation car. The same reasoning could be used to explain the presence of the JCW-branded brakes, which have been another well-known Mini accessory over the years.