- New rumors suggest the Clubman will end production in 2024, and our car Magic 8 Ball says all signs point to yes.
- Clubman sales fell from 12,204 units in 2016 to just 2,469 last year, becoming the best-selling model in Mini’s range.
- The electric Aceman concept is expected to go into production to fill the void left by the Clubman, with the Countryman growing for its next generation.
A new generation of the Mini Cooper is just around the corner, scheduled to debut this year with both electric and gas powertrains, but the iconic hatchback is unlikely to spawn a fresh version of the Clubman wagon. A mini-enthusiast site called MotoringFile claims that production of the Clubman will end in the first quarter of 2024, and while there is no official confirmation of this rumor, there is plenty of evidence to point to its truth.
Car and Driver contacted a Mini spokeswoman, who declined to comment on what they called “highly speculative” reports in other media, but also stopped short of a denial, saying that “the company has not confirmed anything at this point.”
We know for sure that the Cooper hatchback will receive a major update for 2025 – in late 2021, Mini teased a camouflaged two-door Cooper and a two-door prototype was spied completely undisguised in China. But there was no sign of a revised Clubman model in the way of spy shots, and while Mini made a splash by bringing the manual transmission back to the Cooper range, the Clubman was left out of the fun.
Clubman sales have declined since the model’s peak in 2016, when the second generation was launched and 12,204 units found homes, making it the second most popular Mini that year behind only the Countryman. Mini sales have generally declined since then, but the Clubman has suffered worse than the four-door hatch. Last year, 2,469 Clubmans were sold compared to 4,115 four-door Cooper hatches. The Clubman was the brand’s worst-selling vehicle, behind even the Cooper Convertible. While no four-door prototypes of the next-generation Cooper have yet been spied, that model is likely to live on and partially succeed the Clubman.
The Mini Aceman concept.
Mini is also expected to put its Aceman concept into production, which will serve as a more direct Clubman replacement. The electric crossover will slot in below the Countryman, which is said to grow in size for its next generation. While the Aceman is rumored to be shorter than the Clubman, the longer body and the benefits of an EV skateboard platform could offer similar amounts of interior space. The Clubman’s wagon shape will also be ditched for more rugged and SUV-like styling, and, given current market trends, this appears to be a well-advised move by Mini.
Even if production of the Clubman extends beyond the first quarter of 2024, that will likely be the last model year for the Mini wagon. The first-generation Clubman was truly quirky, with suicide rear doors and barn doors instead of a traditional hatch. But the second generation became more conventional, and the rise of the crossover replaced the Clubman with the Countryman as the practical model in the lineup, marking the end of one of the few wagons left in the United States.
Associate News Editor
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at the age of 13, and he realized his dream of writing for an automotive magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and attending the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure cars, aiming to one day own something outlandish like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsport fan.
