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  The all-wheel drive wagon does not look much different from the existing Mini Clubman, apart from slightly improved ground clearance. (pic: Carparazzi) Photo Gallery

The Mini Crossman ? the newest stretch of the born-again Mini ? is more than just another car.

The arrival of the Mini Crossman will also see production of the British baby moved outside the UK for the first time.

BMW Group built an all-new factory in Oxford when it decided to bring Mini back from the dead _ and even held onto it as part of the Mini program when it sold Rover Group _ but now it must switch its focus to Austria because of the all-wheel drive system under the Crossman. And to create extra production capacity.

The Crossman will be built by Magna Steyr, a four-wheel drive specialist that has done car making for a number of brands including Jeep.

The Crossman is already well into development and should be displayed later this year - possibly at the Frankfurt Motor Show - before it goes on sale in 2010.

The all-wheel drive wagon does not look much different from the existing Mini Clubman, apart from slightly improved ground clearance.

The Crossman has joined the test team at the Nurburgring racetrack in Germany, where BMW Group has also recently done work on everything from the facelifted X5 - and the M-tweaked X5 and X6 - to the baby X1 wagon.

The car was originally known inside BMW as the Colorado but has a new model designation, as the R58.

But the aim is just the same, as Mini wants to get more men into its models and believes something with some soft-road ability will be ideal for 20-something males.