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Next generation MINI Countryman to arrive in 2016

The next generation MINI Countryman to arrive in 2016 (current model pictured) We’ve recently had the arrival of the all new MINI, and the next year or so will see the roll-out of a succession of takes on the new MINI. But that process of building a MINI for every possible niche won’t complete until the MINI Countryman (and its coupe sibling, the MINI Paceman) are replaced. That now looks likely to happen in 2016 as, according to Automotive News, BMW is to end production of the MINI Countryman and Paceman at Magna Steyr in Austria in 2016 and move production of the Countryman and Paceman to Oxford and the new MINI Plant in the Netherlands.

Video: A Nissan GT-R drag races a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8

Godzilla versus an SUV? That doesn’t sound like a fair fight, yet Drag Times arranged exactly that matchup--between a 550-hp Nissan GT-R Stage 2 and a force-fed, 640-hp Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8. The results are perhaps predictable, but closer than one might imagine.

Bob Lutz to join EV start-up VIA Motors

Robert Lutz, the former General Motors Co. vice chairman who rejoined the automaker this month as an adviser, has taken a position with electric vehicle maker VIA Motors. Lutz's role at GM won't change because of the move, a GM spokesman said.