After yesterday's global announcement on the new 5-Door Mini, the British firm is releasing country-specific information for their new and more practical, sub-compact hatch. In the States, the car is called the Mini Hardtop 4-door and it will reach dealers towards the end of the year with first deliveries in January 2015.

Pricing is pretty straightforward, with Mini charging a $1,000 premium over the three door models for an extra pair of doors along with a longer (+6.3 inches) and taller body (+0.4 inches).

At launch, there will be two models to choose from, starting with the base $21,950 (*excluding destination) MINI Cooper Hardtop 4 door with a 1.5-liter turbo'd 3-cylinder gasoline engine delivering 134hp and up to 170 lb-ft, which reaches 60mph in 7.6 seconds with a 6sp manual (7.7sec for the automatic) and a top speed of 129mph (both manual and auto).

The other option is the $24,600 (again, without destination and handling) Mini Cooper S Hardtop 4 door featuring a 2.0-liter turbo four with 189hp and 207 lb-ft, which sprints to 60mph in 6.6 seconds with a stick shift (6.5 sec for the automatic) and tops out at 145mph (144mph for the auto).

For the first time in Mini's history, the British premium brand will offer a five-door body style of its classic hatchback model. Aptly named the Mini 5 door, the new sub-compact car was introduced today before arriving in showrooms this fall.

While based on the third generation Mini 3 door that went on sale just a few months ago, the wheelbase on the five door variant has been expanded by 72mm (2.8 inches) to 2,567mm (101 inches) and the body has been lengthened by 161mm (6.3 inches) to 3,982mm or 4,005mm for the Cooper S and SD models. It's also 11mm (0.4 inches) taller than the 3-door model.

Therefore, aside from being more practical than the 3-door version, the 5-door also offers more space inside, including 15mm (0.6 inches) more headroom and 61mm (2.4 inches) of extra width "at elbow height" (even though the overall width remains the same). There's also 72mm(2.8 inches) more foot space for rear passengers, while the luggage compartment grows by 67 liters (+30 percent) for a total of 278 liters or 941 liters if you flip down the 60:40 split rear backrest.

Appearance wise, Mini's designers attempted to integrate the extra pair of doors without ruining the 3-door model's familiar looks. From these pictures, at least, the only issue stems from the small length of the rear doors compared to the front ones.

The engine and trim range comes directly from the three-door car, with the European range including an initial choice of four units: a 134hp/136PS 1.5-liter 3cyl petrol for the Cooper; a 189hp/192PS 2.0-liter 4cyl petrol for the Cooper S; a 114hp/116PS 1.5-liter 3cyl diesel for the Cooper D and a 168hp/170PS 2.0-liter 4cyl diesel for the Cooper SD.

We're still waiting for details on the North American model.