Indians head here as MINI heads for India

Interested to learn that MINI UK is entertaining a group of top journalists from India ahead of the brand’s launch there next year. January’s Delhi Motor Show is the formal announcement of what’s happening and when, so 17 hacks have travelled here to visit the Plant Oxford factory and the MINI Park Lane showroom in central London. Wonder how the cars will go down there? If it’s like the rest of the world, a storm. MINI is now on sale in 90 countries, and sources tell me it could go live in anything up to another 12 next year. Vietnam and the Bahamas are apparently high on the list. The MINI is about as far away from India’s best known car – and supposedly the world’s cheapest, the Tata Nano – as it’s possible to get. But the middle-classes are apparently growing like Topsy. So will they want to personalise their MINIs with vast numbers of options as the Brits do? Will they go for the budget One model, or the flagship JCW? I don’t imagine Indian roads are the best in the world so the ride might be pretty harsh. I’d have thought it would be the ideal opportunity to launch the MINI Scooter, seen as a concept a couple of years ago!