The Mini Clubman is no longer being made. This is the end of a brand that began in 1969 and produced 1.1 million cars over 55 years, with a break of 25 years. When the Clubman Final Edition came out last year, the company made 1969 cars with a number of unique features. Mini is planning to make a number of new electric cars. The first is the Aceman EV, a four-door hatchback that will replace the Clubman and should go into production this year. As planned, Mini stopped making the Clubman this week at its plant in Oxford, UK. Staff from the company were there when the last car was rolled off the line, along with the first Clubman model. The brand first came out in 1969. The company has built more than 1.1 million cars in the last 55 years, with half of them being made at its Oxford plant in the UK. The car was meant to be one of two station wagon versions of the original Mini that British Motor Corporation (BMC) made under different names. One was the Austin Seven Countryman, which was brought back to life for Mini’s SUV lineup many years later. A Morris Mini Traveller was the other one. Before the Mini Clubman came out in 1969, BMC already had a good selection of basic Mini two-door cars, such as those sold under the Riley and Wolseley names. Roy Haynes made the Clubman, which came in two different styles. The Clubman Saloon is one of them. The car was made in a number of different styles until 1982. The first Clubman was made in more than 600,000 pieces, but the basic Mini was made for more than ten years until it stopped being made in 2000. When BMW bought the Mini name and brought it back to life in 2007, the Clubman made a comeback with its unique split rear doors. Unfortunately, with today’s safety rules, it was hard to build the doors themselves. Guy Elliott, a Lead Quality Engineer on the development team at the time, said, “By law, we had to make sure that both doors could open all the way without blocking the rear lights.” “Achieving this required fine-tuning and developing the gas strut system to ensure the doors functioned correctly in all climatic conditions.” When the third version of the Clubman came out in 2015, it got bigger and had a new four-door Mini Cooper hardtop added to it. But the Clubman was still different from the Countryman, which came out at the same time, was taller, and had four doors. The Clubman was the top model in the Mini range, ranked higher than the four-door Coopers. Mini released The Final Edition of the Clubman in 2023. It had some unique features, like a Shimmer Copper radiator grill and 18-inch two-tone metal wheels. To honor the model’s first year on the market, a small number of 1969 Final Edition cars were made. The current model’s lack of differences from the four-door Cooper hardtop and its much higher price were the main reasons why it was taken off the market. So, the new Cooper four-door model, which came out in the 2014 model year, was the car’s main rival. Does the nameplate and basic shape of the Mini brand go away when production of the Clubman stops? Mini’s electric plans will definitely include a lot of cars with unique body styles. The Cooper and Countryman electric cars came out a few months ago, and the Aceman, a new type, will come out later this year. The very cool Urbanaut concept was shown a year before, and in 2022, the Aceman itself was shown as an idea. The Aceman got some of its design cues from the current Countryman, like a better-looking light shape. The Aceman with four doors will fit between the Cooper and the Countryman, about where the old Clubman did. On the other hand, it won’t have split-opening doors. Instead, it will have a more recognizable hatch and bustleback form. This model will probably take the place of the Clubman in Mini’s lineup. It will likely have a 250-mile range and come with either a single or two motors. They will likely be made this spring. It will not, however, come with a gas engine choice like the new Cooper and Countryman. With the release of Aceman, Mini will keep adding to its line. A little later, maybe in 2025 or 2026, the company plans to release “a new crossover model in the small-car segment.” This could be a small MPV, like the Urbanaut concept from 2021. Mini has a lot planned for the year, so official information about the next model has yet to come out. The CEO of Plants Oxford and Swindon, Markus Grüneisl, said, “We are very proud to have built the Mini Clubman for customers all over the world for the last 18 years.”
