MINI USA has been trying to build a case to bring the diesel powered MINI to the US for some time now, but it looks like that isn’t going to happen.
The main reason that we will not see a diesel powered MINI anytime soon has to do with costs. It would cost the automaker a significant investment to convert the European-spec diesel engine to US standards. Even if MINI were to charge 10-15% more for the diesel powered model, the automaker would still lose money. Charging 40-50% more would pay for the development costs, but who would actually buy it at that price? So it looks like we will have to wait another 4-5 years to get the diesel when the next-generation MINI is released.
Plans are still up in the air for an R60 based Cooper S D to make it to the US, but we’ll see…
Full Story: MotoringFile
