I received an email from Kortney Dye at Willis Auto Campus in Des Moines today:

"....the Willis Auto Campus has been awarded the MINI franchise and will be the only Sales and Service dealer in Iowa. Nothing has been formally announced, however I can keep you posted as we receive additional information."

 

woohoo!!!!

 

I e-mailed her and introduced myself and EIM to her...

 

Wonderful news! I hope this all pans out!

Great thinking Brian...it's not too early to start cultivating a relationship -- for their benefit and ours.

Already up on the website.

 

Huzzah!!

 

It's like a bonus Christmas Gift!!

 

That's odd their site doesn't even look to carry BMW's currently. Seems odd that a non BMW dealer would get the MINI bid, but whatever. I probably still head to Naperville for my shopping. Bill Jacobs has to been to good to Lisa and I so far to switch on them. Plus they have Portillos and Lou Malnatis in Naperville

Am kind of sad to find out my Sales guy at MINI now works for Tesla though :(

 

I just like the idea that they now carry quite a few of the british line of cars.

Yes I know Jag is no longer british (Stupid TATA)

 

Where abouts would this dealership be located?

 

Check the posting on our website...it has the address.

 

Willis Auto Campus has made the announcement in its newsletter:

http://www.adarthub.com/email/willis...ews/index.html

 

I've posted a bit before when about a year ago I was considereing a MINI purchase....at the time, Omaha was my closest dealer and that aspect together with what I perceived as a number of unresolved quality control issues, caused me to replace my '99 Miata with a retractable hard top '08 MX-5.

Our other family car is a Volvo purchased at Willis...a mere 1 1/2 miles from me. I would only say that had Willis had the MINI franchise at that time, I would have more stronger considered a MINI. Willis carries Cadillac and Lexus as well as Hummer ( stillI think), Volvo, Jaguar, Inifinity and Land Rover. They have a very good reputation in the market and I've been very pleased with their service. Ironically, they're located across the street at SEC of Hickman and 100th Street, from European Motorcars; the local Mercedes and BMW dealer.

Glad to hear Iowa MINI owners now have a centralized dealer for warranty work.

Rick

 

If only MINI had come to Iowa two years ago, I wouldn't be selling mine right now. Is there any info on how soon they would start dealing with MINI's?

 

From Rich Willis's local news in the past week, they indicated they'd be getting used MINI's to sell shortly but didn't expect new models for ~ 6 months. They're also still planning how to incorporate the MINI line at their existing location among Lexus, Cadillac, Hummer, Volvo, Land Rover, Jaguar and Infinity model lines. Perhaps they'll re-model the old dedicated Hummer building as I read in the WSJ that GM has ceased making Hummers as "the pipeline was adequate to last until negotiations/sale to the Chinese was completed".

I have not stopped by their location to discuss the "news" yet as my Sales Advisor/friend recently retired, but if I learn anything more, I'll post it.

 

We greatly appreciate IowaWRX sharing the link to this recent KCCI news report on the new MINI franchise at Willis Auto Campus...



Good to see our buddy Dave in a starring role too.

 

Yea they got the right person for the interview! Probably cut about three hours out of it . Too bad Des Moines is farther away for me than Chicago.

 

 

I had the chance to chat with the Willis GM's father over coffee this past Monday morning. Evidently he heard that WAC has purchased a building formerly occupied by Saturn, immediately adjacent to the present campus (I'm not familiar with the location, so I don't have a concept as to where it is located exactly). This building is the new target location for their MINI franchise, now expected to open sometime during the first half of '11.

I understand the price tag to renovate the Hummer facility to bring it up to MINI USA standards was just too great (several $M) to be economically feasible, so they have abandoned that idea. Too bad -- the concept drawings were pretty cool.

Anyway, hopefully we'll see tangible progress real soon.

 

The Saturn building is on the Southeast corner of 100th Street and Hickman Avenue. In essence, the existing Willis Auto Campus wraps around this location....with Infinity/Volvo/Jaguar/Land Rover in the building fronting Hickman immediately east of the Saturn building and Lexus/Cadillac and pre-owned south of the Saturn building. The former HUMMER building is a bit south and east of Cadillac/Lexus...wonder if they'll move Land Rover to that building to make use of the little all-terrain track behind the Hummer building?

The Saturn building has the best visibility of the entire Willis Auto Campus and is located immediately across Hickman from European Motor Cars BMW/Mercedes dealership on the northeast corner of Hickman and 100th Street. I'll bet MINI loves the new Saturn building location!

Sorry to hear Willis MINI won't arrive until Spring '11 but then a wintertime launch for MINI..except for maybe the Countryman...doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Guess we'll just need to be patient

 

Here's a link to the EIM Website page with a video tour of the new MINI of Des Moines facility under construction:

http://www.easterniowaminis.org/snea...oines-facility

Enjoy the tour!

 

MINI of Des Moines plans to open their doors for business on Monday, December 20th.

See the attached PDF file to read the associated press release from earlier today.

 

I am not too happy with Willis Auto Group. Mail I get from them is addressed to Tom. I asked them to change it to my name at the Corridor Event but no, still Tom. I wouldn't mind if Tom was the one washing, waxing, changing the oil, etc.

I'm wondering if they do the same to any of the other female owner's in our group???

 

70 Mini's in stock, sounds like they still have a Cadillac business model, the fun part of owning a Mini is getting the options and building the car yourself. Just my opinion.

 

I also can't help but notice that all of the attractive incentives that MINI USA is offering on new vehicles (e.g., 0.9 percent financing) only applies to vehicles "on the lot" and not to custom orders. Seems to support the same business model. It will be interesting to see what comprises the "original 70" in terms of models, colors, options, etc.

 

There was a small blurb in the CR Gazette today about this, strikes me as more hype than substance. I have so far been unimpressed with the efforts they have made in opening. After a visit and e-mail about buying a Countryman from them, I get a reply advising me to come and order a Clubman. The video tour of the facility has Mr Willis? stating how Mini dates back to 1953. Now this announcement states they will have 12 Countryman All4's in place the 20th. Over looking the fact that there are S and non S models available, just having 12 All4's , which must all be S models, would be the coup of the year. I went thru Bill Jacobs, as stated else where they are knowledgeable and easy to work with. They also have NO Countryman yet, we are hoping my All4 S and their 3 demos arrive in the next day or 2. 12 to DSM? I think not. I am trying not to be seen as mean, just very skeptical.