Thought you guys would want to see a MINI event held last night in my town to introduce their first allotment of four 2007 MINI Coopers. No "S" versions and the price for a non-S comes in at around 40K USD.

I waited for about two hours and they had still not taken the car covers off... I had other things to do so I left . My MINI arrives on TITUS next week and I've still never seen an '07 MINI in person...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...1&d=1180320283

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...1&d=1180320283

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...1&d=1180320283

 

I'm from the United States; have Mini's been available in China in the past? Are they popular?

At 40K USD for a non-S, it seems mighty expensive! Doesn't seem very affordable....

 

What cool thing...thanks for sharing pics!!!

 

I'm from the US too (just working as an ex-pat in China).

The MINI is very popular but as with other imports, not very affordable due to very high taxes. I've never seen a drop top MINI here but several R53's about.

I did finally see an R56 on Monday afternoon . They had two left which did not sell during the party. It seems that the dealer only orders MC's with a very mid grade package... Sunroof & auto trans are the highlights. There are no "S" versions yet due to poor gas octane and quality but maybe next year. Chinese don't want manual transmissions because they're thought of as "low end".

 

In Hong Kong, where my wife is from, there is a luxury tax of 35 percent on the first US $19,180, 65 percent on the next $19,180, 85 percent on the next $25,573 and 100 percent on anything above that.

The Mini does qualify for a new environmental discount of 30 percent off the above tax.

The biggest impediment, though, for HK drivers, is the lack of parking. The cost to garage a car and to park it is quite high. That's why the vast majority of residents rely on public transportation.