The U.S. car market may be moving toward Mini's kind of small, fashionable and fuel-efficient vehicles, and the British brand will be ready as it prepares to launch its first electric vehicles in the United States in 2009 and a small crossover utility vehicle not long after. Mini would also like to offer a diesel engine if it can develop one that gets at least 50 m.p.g. on the highway in EPA tests and meets strict emissions standards in California and northeast states, said Jim McDowell, vice president of Mini USA.

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