BMW News

    While Mini's latest variant (is that the 18th?), the Paceman Coupe, will be launched at this month's Paris Auto Show, it snuck into public view recently, as part of a story on the London restaurant scene.

    The UK website  Motoringfile, which is dedicated to all things Mini, posted the pictures, which it believed were fair game after being shown on official Mini site. In a sort of Chinese fire drill, Mini  requested that Motoringfile remove the images until it was ready to release them and also pulled the story from its own official site, Mini Space.

    However, the horse was well out of the barn and the images are now in general distribution, prompting Motoringfile to post them again. There are bound to be more photos headed your way as the Paris show nears, but trenchant observers have already made the connection between the Countryman-based coupe and the Range Rover Evoque.

    Both vehicles share a falling roof line and rising beltine coupled with blacked-out A, B and C-pillars, and both are offered in front or all-wheel drive. It's not exactly badge-engineering, but as we know, that's a slippery slope.

    Personally I'm waiting for a bustle back edition, and the revival of the Riley Elf and Wolseley Hornet. ––Paul Duchene