Mini Readies 5-Door Hatch for Paris Intro

BMW AG's Mini unit will publicly introduce its eighth body iteration, a five-door hatch dubbed the Mini Cooper hardtop, at the Paris auto show next week.

The car will go on sale in Europe on Oct. 25 and in the U.S. in January.

The five-passenger subcompact car closely maintains the styling of the line's original three-door configuration. But it offers more passenger room and cargo capacity inside.

At 13 feet, the five-door is six inches longer and nearly half an inch taller than the three-door. Luggage space is 30% greater. Rear-seat occupants gain half an inch of headroom, 2.4 inches of width and nearly three inches more legroom.

The new model is the second Mini (after the re-engineered three-door hatch) to ride on BMW's new "UKL" front-drive platform. The same chassis has been assigned to BMW's 2 Series and upcoming 1 Series small cars.

The five-door will be available in Europe with an array of six naturally aspirated or turbocharged gasoline and diesel engines. The 3- and 4-cylinder powerplants make between 98 hp and 192 hp. Power is delivered through a 6-speed manual or 6-speed Steptronic transmission.