On Thursday, local time, BMW Group Senior Vice President of Design Adrian Van Hooydonk and Oliver Heilmer, head of Mini Design, confirmed to members of the press that the next-generation Countryman will get an increase in size. On the other hand, the new Hardtop – the car that most people simply think of as the Mini Cooper – will shrink.

“The Mini Countryman should grow,” Heilme said, “and we do get a lot of feedback from the market saying that the Countryman is quite a good car, but it could be a little bit bigger.” Later, Heilmer added – “People need more space.”

It certainly seems to defy the whole point of Mini, but Van Hooydonk says that as vehicles in general get bigger, the company will always strive to offer cars that are as small as possible in that segment, “which is an ongoing struggle.

The good news is that it sounds like the next-generation Hardtop will be smaller than the current car – something we noticed when Mini released photos of its prototype last year. “In the hatchback, our achievement is really to make it smaller than its predecessor,” Heilmer said, “and that’s our biggest goal.”

Widening the bookshelf of the Mini lineup leaves more room for the middle, which bodes well for the Aceman. It also creates more breathing room for Mini’s other models, including the Clubman.

At this point, though, Van Hooydonk admits that the Aceman may have more potential than the Clubman as far as customer demand is concerned. The Aceman is said to be taller than the Clubman, but shorter and with a higher ride height. Nevertheless, Van Hooydonk said that only time will tell if the Clubman can hold on after the Aceman enters production in the next few years.

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