Need more proof that Americans are embracing small, fuel-efficient cars? Supplies of the 2008 Mini Cooper and 2008 Mini Cooper S in North America are on the edge of depletion. Mini sales in the U.S. have risen 33.6 percent in the first half of 2008, and the figures from June don't discount that trend. 5211 cars were sold in June, a 24.8 percent increase over June 2007.

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 here in 2009 and a small crossover utility vehicle not long after.

Mini also would 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, Jim McDowell, vice president of Mini USA, said.