Just got curious and asked MINIUSA what the sales of MINIs was to date and this is their reply:

 

Very interesting. I hope the numbers dont get too big, then there might be MINI's everywhere!

 

Hey Cat, thanks for the information :smile: I was curious about that myself, also puts into perspective how many Coopers vs. Cooper S'. Strange I always see more Cooper S' than Coopers. Go figure…

 

Hey same here! I see a lot more MCS on the road then MC's, even at the meets here in so cal I see more MCS's...I guess all the cooper owners are in hiding.

 

I think I see an equal number of both? But they zip by so fast that unless it's definitely a cooper-specific or s-specific color I'm not always sure which they are. :smile:

I was most curious about sales because there are now 15 pages of used MINIs for sale in AutoTrader. At 25 ads a page=approx 375 total, that's still less than 1% of unhappy customers.

 

i thought they were only going to sell 20,000 a year? that's what i was told. I don't expect to see them increase production numbers.

 

US sales will most likely increase to at least 35,000 and worldwide production will increase similarly. Interestingly August sales actually decreased compared to 2002.

 

It will be a very long time before MINI sales are increased to the point of keeping up with demand.
Sales are still very very strong in my area. The MC with CVT is RED HOT. As a result the MCS is also selling just because the wait is long and growing for the MC.

Now from
http://www.drivingwithdawn.com/archi..._a_truck.shtml

the most popular car? a truck!

Here's a silly trivia question: Name the best-selling vehicle in the United States since 1981. Stumped? So was I. However, I'd assumed the top spot would have gone to the ubiquitous Honda Civic, the trusty Toyota Camry, or the unfortunate Ford Taurus. I had figured it would have been a sedan or four-door car of some sort...nothing flashy like, say, a sports car.

Well, I was right that it wasn't flashy, but I was surprised to learn that the winner was the Ford F150 truck! Now, looking around parking lots and freeways nowadays, those trucks are everywhere, so it really doesn't seem far-fetched to think it would be the top seller in 2003, 2002, and so on. But since 1981? Unbelievable!

I think my view is tainted because I live in Southern California. While pickups, the bigger the better, have been trendy here for the past few years, I don't remember seeing hordes of these trucks around more than five years ago. Everyone seemed to have Civics, Jettas, Jeeps, and, of course, SUVs. And in the '80s? I don't even recall what was popular. But I had no idea it was this particular truck.

Funny thing, with all these large, haulin'-*** F150s around, why don't I ever see them hauling dirt, or towing anything? Hmm.

And it is interesting to note that the F 150 crash test is - Horrible!!! What are people thinking!!!

 

My wife read an article about Chick cars and relating it to the MINI Cooper. Turns out more men buy the MINI Cooper and the number 1 chick car, the Ford F150

 

I really don't put too much weight on the MINI sales numbers. Why? Because it is "production capacity limited". For example, I placed my deposit back in Sept of 2002, but I didn't get to spec/order my MCS until July of 2003, for a Sept 2003 build. As a customer, I placed my order in Sept of 2002, but my order was not counted until I guess July of 2003. Therefore, order numbers published by MINI really does not reflect true demand/orders.

Also, Coopers seem to be outselling Cooper Ss. However, this does not take into account the order backlog / waitlist for the Cooper S at all the dealers all over the country. Therefore, we cannot determine the percentage split based on MINI order numbers either.

What I really want to know, but is never going to be available, is the total number of net deposits placed per given month (number of deposits minus cancellations)..... That figure would be closer to true demand I think.

 

You bring up a good point about how hard it is to get one. I talked to the Irvine MINI dealership and was told that allocations have been even more limited than before as of about two months ago. They're not going to let demand push supply because MINI/BMW wants to keep the residual value of the MINI high. So Irvine is still adding on $2,500 over MSRP and can't place an order until November.

 

According to Automotive News Nov 10, 2003 issue(the leading industry magazine) sales were as follows:


Oct 2003 Oct 2002 10 months of 2003 10 months of 2002


MINI Cooper 1,560 1,533 16,062 10,888

MINI Cooper S 1,531 1,312 12,749 7,718

Total MINI car 3,091 2,845 28,811 18,606



:smile: :smile:

Earl

sorry it did not put these in colums but ran them together

_________________
SCURVES

 

>>I was most curious about sales because there are now 15 pages of used MINIs for sale in AutoTrader. At 25 ads a page=approx 375 total, that's still less than 1% of unhappy customers.


Dealers put ads everywhere and i think you would find out a lot of those are new/very low milage.

Earl

 

>>
>>>>I was most curious about sales because there are now 15 pages of used MINIs for sale in AutoTrader. At 25 ads a page=approx 375 total, that's still less than 1% of unhappy customers.
>>
>>
>>Dealers put ads everywhere and i think you would find out a lot of those are new/very low milage.

The reasons for selling are many and varied. Sometimes the sellers are moving up to a larger car due to marriage or family growth. Sometimes these are problem cars with stalling or hesitation and computer problems or people tired of shifting manually and want an automatic. Sometimes they are modded cars used for autocross or tracking and the owners got tired of them and may have returned them to stock form. Sometimes they are in accidents or floods and are sold off then resold.

Those buyers that don't want to take risks are sticking to the new MINIs but there are some bargains out there to be had. Look for the sale of an MC from an owner looking to buy an MCS.

 

>>Very interesting. I hope the numbers dont get too big, then there might be MINI's everywhere!

 

Come to NJ/NY...you'll see MINI's. Not uncommon anymore. I saw a close match to mine recently in Manhattan...at least it would have matched had I stayed stock on certain things.

 

I think when the Mini came to the U.S. Mini USA underestimated the demand for the Cooper S. I saw on a TV show back in early 2002 that they thought atleast 80% of the sales would be Base Mini's and only about 20% Cooper S.

The actual demand was more like 50%-50%. That explains why whenever I stop at the Mini dealer you see a dozen Base Models but zero or maybe one Cooper S. I think a lot of poeple don't want to wait 6 months or longer for the S model and buy the Base model because it's in stock and they can have it right now. Also, if you want the car in automatic, you have no choice but to get the Base Model.

If there was a larger price difference between the two models, I think there would be less demand for the S. But since there is only a $3,000 + difference to many people including myself, it was worth getting the MCS.

Mini sales have definitely surpassed BMW/Mini expectations. They had hoped to sell 20,000 a year and they obviously well ahead of that this year and surpassed it last year. With the convertible coming out next year, Mini sales should remain strong.

I saw a show on SpeedChannel over the weekend (Autoline Detroit) it's about the automotive industry and according to one of their surveys, Mini move quicker off the dealers lot than any car sold in the US.

The average Mini is only on the dealers lot an average of 14 days before being sold. In last place was Mitsubishi, their cars spend an average of 6 months on a dealers lot before being sold.

RaceCarDriver

 

Here's the whole shebango for US sales since the
beginning of time:

 

>>===>I second that. Bought mine for its uniqueness & frankly do not wanna see lots on the road. Selfish but that's my take

But you know that you're not going to get 'unique' for $20+K in a package that's practical, right?
You can get unique for big $$ (ferrari) or an impractical package (MR2) or mechanical nightmare (too many to list)

As I search for my 'good deal' I'm amazed to see the number of 'used' Coopers with less than a thousand miles on them (some in the low hundreds) for sale from various dealers. Maybe MINI dealers selling off their demo stock?

 

Used Cooper volume may be due to some who feel like they made a huge mistake and traded in for an MCS - does happen. Or they were impulse buys due to what may have been perceived as a need to have the "IT" car at that point in time. Or people realized that the MINI wasn't for them...

 

I was under the impression that the MCS outsold the MC...???
Obviously I was wrong...:smile:
Seems 50/50 is a better call

Peace,
D

 

Well, it's:

56% Cooper
44% Cooper-S

So if this was a presidential election, the Cooper-S would WIN

_________________

 

>>I was under the impression that the MCS outsold the MC...???
>>Obviously I was wrong...:smile:
>>Seems 50/50 is a better call

I think it may actually vary from region to region. I'm pretty sure that in my area, some months the MCS outsells the MC but not by much when it does. This month the demand is much greater for the MC with CVT (like 95%+) over the MC with 5 speed. More orders for the MC than MCS in general.

Remember that in the UK the MINI ONE with CVT is the hot seller then the MC with 5 speed and trailing is the expensive to buy and to insure MCS. MINI diesel is new.

 

I think it seems as though there are more MCS' out there because there seems to be more MCS owners here and also at meets. OK, my reasoning is as follows and is in no way meant to offend anyone or indicative of a preference so put your flamethrowers away. I think, IN GENERAL, there are probably more MINI enthusiasts who buy MCS whereas many people, but not all, who buy the MC are looking for a cute commuter car. These people are less likely to post on forums, go to meets or compete in autocross. I love both the MC and MCS and everything that makes each one unique. I'm definitely a MINI enthusiast. In fact, it's bordering on OCD

 

mini58 - I assume you own an MCS. I actually had a tuner tell me one time that MINI shouldn't have even bothered selling the MC here, that they misjudged their target audience. Imagine that, telling a Cooper owner that. I think you'll find plenty of Cooper owners here looking to get more out of their cars, just like the MCS owners. The makeup of this site represents a small fraction of all MINI owners - I certainly didn't buy my Cooper for the "cute commuter car" factor, but there may be some who did. I bet there are some who bought the MCS for the same reason. Some magazine articles I have read on the MINI are quick to point out that the MCS is the one to get, wait for it, it's worth it, etc. That doesn't mean the MC is any less of a car. As far as autocrosses go - there are some who prefer the Cooper over the MCS for any number of reasons.