BMW has kept our interest in the forthcoming Mini Traveller by showing the Concept version at shows in Frankfurt and Tokyo last year with different, country-specific themes. Desperate for a decent cup in Detroit, we were actually hoping that the Paul Smith and English tea version from Tokyo would rear its head again. Instead, Mini revealed the blue and white Mini Concept Detroit with a winter sports theme playing on the stars and stripes of the American flag for its colour scheme.

Though it was no secret, BMW officially announced that the concept will make it into production in some format and it "will be on the road within the next three years." We were actually hoping for it a little earlier than that, but sales if the Mini range are buoyant at present, with the brand's best sales year yet being 2005, with 200,400 cars sold in more than 70 countries.

It is thought that the rest of the Mini range will receive a major facelift at the same time that the Traveller version is launched, and the concept's front end should be quite a good indication, though not in the single-piece clamshell bonnet style of the concept. In Detroit, the spacious and flexible interior was retained, but still only with two doors. It is not yet clear whether there will ever be a five-door Mini. The same goes for the vertically split rear; it looks great, but could be too expensive to produce for style reasons alone. Watch this space.

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