ORDERS for the new Mini Countryman are flooding in from across Oxfordshire – more than three weeks before the car hits the showrooms.

Mini dealer North Oxford Garage, at Long Hanborough, has taken 19 orders for the new model – the first to be manufactured away from Cowley.

Managing director Robert Buckingham said: “We held a pre-launch event for about 80 people and there was fantastic interest.”

Mr Buckingham added that once potential customers had seen the car in the flesh, they were keen to put their names on the waiting list.

He said: “Because it is a brand new car for Mini, people were not sure.

“But once they had seen it and touched it, the response has been very good.”

The Austrian-built Countryman, the biggest vehicle in the range, officially goes on sale on Saturday, September 18, although dealers will receive first deliveries from the beginning of that week.

The car is available with four wheel drive – another first for the Mini – and will come with a range of engines including a sporty Cooper S, with prices starting from about £16,000.

The newly relaunched Mini range with cosmetic changes goes on sale a week today in time for the new 60 registration plate.

As revealed in the Oxford Mail last month, the Countryman will also be competing in the World Rally Championship.

Banbury motorsport specialist Prodrive is understood to be running initial tests of the car in preparation for limited appearances in the 2011 season.

Fifty jobs are being created at Prodrive this year as a result of the deal.

Meanwhile, Mini bosses have dismissed reports that a new generation of “smaller” Minis will go into production.

Auto Express magazine claimed a version of the car would be made at about 10ft long, making it only slightly larger than the iconic original Mini designed by Sir Alec Issigonis.

The report added a John Cooper Works sporting version of the car would feature a new 1.5-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged engine currently being developed by Mini parent company BMW.

But a Mini spokesman said: “It is all speculation.”