Mini Countryman Italy's upmarket Fiat Panda?

The Mini Countryman was out to seek new buyers and it certainly got a few in Italy, of all countries.
The Italian market can boast the biggest sales figures in Europe so far for the Countryman and we’ve seen a few on the streets, already.
The news came as a surprise at first until we realised that Italy was probably far more prepared for a compact SUV of this dimension than other markets, having had a long love affair with its own Fiat Panda.

While the Fiat Panda is not strictly to be classified as a compact SUV, and will never match the Mini for style (or price for that matter), the vehicle has optional all-wheel drive, an upright sitting position, space for four people and a compact boot.
In fact, the model has been a big seller in Italy for a long time and you’d be hard placed to drive through any Italian town and not see at least five of these in your first ten minutes in town.

In Italy the Mini Countryman has sold over 3,800 units and the brand saw a sales increase in January of 15.

4 percent.
The most sold version, unsurprisingly, is the Cooper ALL4 model which makes up about 40 percent of all sales.
More success is likely as the 2.
0-litre diesel with 143 hp hits the market in March.
Could we start to see more of these on little Italian mountain roads? Possibly, but they won’t be so easy to overtake as the Fiat Panda.
Source