With all the talk of how we are headed towards a recession, how will this affect mini sales in NA? Is there already a downward sales trend with the MCS? I know BMW tries to manipulate the market by keeping a tight control on supply. I'm looking to buy a MCS in 2009 (yes...the wait is killing me)

 

I suspect such an occurance would affect everything, but given our need for (and dependence on) transport.....and given MINI's superb value and mpg capabilities..... I think MINI will do well. Might sell more Coopers, who knows.

 

I think the Mini will be one of a few car makers making money. With the increasing gas prices, people will be unloading their pigs looking for better alternatives (read before everyone else does). Which is why I'm here I don't know how the US automakers will survive. Making substandard cars, outdated styling, the list goes on.

 

I think it is more of when will we come out of the recession, rather than are we headed towards one.

I doubt it will have much of a negative effect on MINIs. It might turn a few MCS buyers into MC buyers, but there may be quite a few coming from Corvettes, Porsches, etc. to replace them. Rather than intentionally limiting MCS production to maintain scarcity, it may be more of an issue with taking factory time to produce Clubmans and MCs. I would be bullish on MINI sales, recession or not.

 

Thanks for the replies! Yes, we probably are already in a recession =(

At least in 2009, DCS will be standard...although they will probably reflect that in the price haha

 

I bought my MINI as a second car. I drive it more now because of the economy and because it is so much fun to drive. Fun+Great MPH=Love

 

My MA told me that they sold 30 Minis in Feb. Inskip in R.I.

 

MINI NA had the highest year to year increase in sales (26%) likely fueled by the Clubman launch, but they're well on track to outsell past years.

i think the bad economy, as others have noted, will spur MINI sales.

 

We are currently a 2 SUV Family, 2 Adult Drivers, and in 2 Weeks we will be a 1 SUV & 1 MINI Family!!! So far we have gotten only 1 bite on my Husband's 1999 Chevy S-10 Blazer, listed @ $3750 134,700+ Miles on it, it is in Great Shape, but they never came back. So it will be traded in on Molly if we don't get it sold before the 18th.
Molly will be our Carpool/Commuter Car M-F and we have a couple of Weekend gatherings to attend as well.
So yes, I think the gas prices will bring more people to look at a better option in the way of better fuel economy and hopefully smaller cars.

 

There was report that I read this past week that stated that Mini sales were down(17%) but with a rise in Clubman sales. The Clubman sales clearly did not make up the difference however.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/s...-mercedes.html

I am not sure if this is a seasonal thing though because another report stated that Mini sales were up 33% for the first 2 months of the year
http://www.patriotledger.com/lifestyle/x1172191815

 

Apparently there is a move to smaller cars:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...rs-sales_N.htm

Based on Mini sales the last few months they are doing quite well in this regard. Standouts include the Yaris (70% increase), Fit (61% increase), and Spektra (40%) over a year ago. One of the reasons these standout so much is starting prices in the 12-15K range. All in all small car sales are up 27% over a year ago. Mini is doing well, but price is also driving people to these cars and there Mini, being a premium small car is losing out somewhat to the above mentioned. Also, not being readily available to all markets has to be a factor as well.

You hear that MINI? A Mini One starting in the 15-16K range??

 

I think any small car that averages above 30 mpg (Fit, Yaris, MC) will do OK in this slowdown. Now, the new Toyota Sequoia, talk about bad timing!

 

The one thing that we really haven't seen yet is a price increase due to Foreign Exchange rate. Depending on how far we go into this recession, we may see a price increase from MINI due to the FX. Keep your fingers crossed and hope that the dollar doesn't keep tumbling.

That was one of the questions I asked when I ordered my car in early March. "If I order my car now, but the dollar loses value or the Pound gains value, am I going to end up paying more?" Luckily, the answer was no, but the future is pretty shady. . .

 

I think 3 things will help MINI:

1. this car gets great mileage compared to most cars
2. this car is still very unique
3. the average MINI buyer is probably more resistant to recession than other makes.

 

The MINI sales are rising because the production capacity has risen. Pretty simple that the demand is there for the MINI and always has been. MINI has pretty much been the top increasing in sales brand so far this year. This is why the resale maintains relatively high. Imagine if they actually started pushing advertisements on the MINI.

A lot of the sales decreases you are seeing has more to do with American producers backing down production and refusing to sell at anything but a profit on most models.

 

I work at a Saab dealership and business is dead, the dealers VW side is pretty slow as well, I think a 17% decrease in Mini sales is probably still much better then other brands are seeing.

 

Mini sales were up 36% in feb (year over year). The rest of the industry was down.

 

That said, Toyota sells more scions than mini and volvo's whole line combined and they only move like 170,000 cars a year. So 36% growth is not that impressive given that they are going from not very many cars to 36% more than not that many.

Someone alluded to this before about bmw managing inventory to create artificial demand. . . This is called port flow. They warehouse cars at the port so that each dealer has no more than 4 weeks worth at any given time to. This makes people more inclined to take what's on the lot because the prospect of getting another car is artificially grim. BMW doesn't need to sell a lot of these cars. They're more of a brand statement and a testbed for building profitable small cars (1 series) and in-dealer customization (very profitable--100-150% margin).