Mini's radical new design is an off-road pick-up truck

Mini’s latest vehicle is a world away from its famous compact design - as the firm revealed a new pick-up truck.

The Paceman Adventure is a four-wheel drive Mini concept which has had its rear seats replaced with a cargo area.

It has been designed for transporting goods across gravel roads, through muddy tracks and on desert trails.

Engineers have also fitted the Paceman Adventure with a snorkel-style air filter which allows the pick-up truck to drive through rivers and streams.

The pick-up has a modified chassis with extended ground clearance and much higher front and rear clearance ramps.

It has additional lights mounted on the front cross member of the roof rack to boost visibility at night, while special off-road tyres with wide and deep treads are designed to improve traction.

The Paceman Adventure was designed by Mini apprentices in Munich and unveiled by the firm this week.

It is not the first Mini pick-up, with the iconic Mini also converted into a commercial vehicle between 1961 and 1982.

However, the Paceman Adventure dwarves its inspiration in size and performance.

The original Mini pickup had a tiny 850cc engine which developed just 37bhp.

It took almost 34 seconds to reach 60mph and was capable of just 69mph.

The Paceman Adventure, by comparison, has a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine developing 184bhp.

This gives the concept car a 0-62mph time of less than 8 seconds and a top speed in excess of 130mph.

Mini originally built more than 50,000 pickups, but the BMW-owned company said there were no current plans for the Paceman Adventure to see full-scale production.