Automotive

Mini Clubman All4 Scrambler borrows from the world of bikes

Mini Clubman All4 Scrambler borrows from the world of bikes
The ALL4 Scrambler is a Mini designed to tackle mild off-roading, and look cool while doing it
The ALL4 Scrambler is a Mini designed to tackle mild off-roading, and look cool while doing it
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The lights on the front of the Clubman look like the rally foglights that did service on rally cars in the 60s
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The lights on the front of the Clubman look like the rally foglights that did service on rally cars in the 60s
The ALL4 Scrambler has knobby tires and a raised suspension
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The ALL4 Scrambler has knobby tires and a raised suspension
The roof rack is a throwback to the Traveller of the 70s
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The roof rack is a throwback to the Traveller of the 70s
The interior is all about tan leather and Alcantara
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The interior is all about tan leather and Alcantara
Mini has created some vintage luggage to go with the Clubman
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Mini has created some vintage luggage to go with the Clubman
The car is finished in Frozen Grey
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The car is finished in Frozen Grey
Mini has drawn inspiration from the RnineT motorbike
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Mini has drawn inspiration from the RnineT motorbike
The ALL4 Scrambler is a Mini designed to tackle mild off-roading, and look cool while doing it
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The ALL4 Scrambler is a Mini designed to tackle mild off-roading, and look cool while doing it
The Scrambler along with its Motorbike inspiration
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The Scrambler along with its Motorbike inspiration
The ALL4 Scrambler is one of the coolest Mini concepts we've seen in years
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The ALL4 Scrambler is one of the coolest Mini concepts we've seen in years
View gallery - 10 images

When you think of scramblers, the Mini brand doesn't necessarily spring to mind. That's probably because, until now, the word has only been associated with motorbikes, not four-door crossovers. Undeterred by this fact, Mini's Italian design team has kitted a Clubman out with knobby tires and raised suspension, before slapping a scrambler badge on the back.

It might have four wheels instead of two, but Mini has tried to stay true to the original concept behind scrambler bikes. You wouldn't take it along the Rubicon Trail, but the team in Italy has fitted an all-wheel drive Clubman with knobby tires and a raised suspension system for improved performance on muddy lanes and rutted roads.

Beyond these functional tweaks, the rest of the changes made to the ALL4 Scrambler are style based. That doesn't mean they're not seriously cool, though. Those front spotlights hark back to the lights on the legendary rally cars that carved up Monte Carlo in the 1960s, and look just right to our eyes.

The ALL4 Scrambler is one of the coolest Mini concepts we've seen in years
The ALL4 Scrambler is one of the coolest Mini concepts we've seen in years

Speaking of cool, the Clubman is also fitted with a roof rack designed to evoke memories of the Traveller from the 1970s. It's unashamedly retro and it's diminutive size doesn't do much to improve the car's practicality, but if we've learned anything over the last decade it's Mini designers are the masters of modernizing classic design cues for a new, young audience.

Opening one of the car's Frozen Grey doors reveals an interior trimmed in tan leather and Alcantara. The color has been chosen as an explicit reference to BMW's RNineT, although we're not sure if the Clubman's carpeted boot area and luxurious interior really fit with the free, go-anywhere spirit of scramblers past.

The Clubman ALL4 Scrambler debuted at the Salone dell'Auto Turino, which runs until June 12.

Source: BMW Italy

View gallery - 10 images
1 comment
1 comment
zr2s10
"When you think of scramblers, the Mini brand doesn't necessarily spring to mind. That's probably because, until now, the word has only been associated with motorbikes, not four-door crossovers." Actually, there was a Jeep Scrambler, and there is a Polaris Scrambler ATV. But regardless, this is a cool little car!