Like its predecessors, the A40 Countryman version was again combining many of the virtues of a compact saloon and estate car in one body — but unlike the 1954 A30 Countryman, (a sub 3 meters ) estate car version of the 1951 Austin A30), and its 1956 A35 Countryman evolution – the all new A40 Countryman had a split lifting and lowering tailgate instead of the sideways opening rear doors, seen from the 1948 A40 Countryman through the A35.