The first version of the 4-wheel-drive Countryman, of course, isn't slated to hit until Sept. 18, and then only in Europe. (We should see models stateside in February). Third-generation MINIs, expected in about three years, are slated to share a BMW platform for small front-wheel-drive cars with 4-cylinder engines.

So a small 2-door off-road Countryman vehicle from MINI certainly seems as if it's playing on the same field as the Evoque, though at drastically different price points: The Countryman goes on sale in Europe at a starting price around $25,700, while Land Rover's model, bearing the more upmarket Range Rover badge, is expected to start for about twice that.

A hybrid Evoque is also being planned.