MINI Brand Sales
MINI USA reported sales of 2,826 automobiles, down 17.2 percent from the 3,415 cars sold in February 2008. The drop from last February was driven mainly by the build out phase of the MINI Convertible. The new model will go on sale in the US at the end of March. Year-to-date, the division reported sales of 4,908 automobiles, a decrease of 16.5 percent, compared to the 5,875 cars reported in the first two months of 2008.

"The economy slowed so much in December and January that MINI felt the pain," said Jim McDowell, Vice-President of MINI USA. "In February however, sales were up 36 percent compared to January '09 and we're now seeing some who had been on the sidelines putting their feet back in the water shopping for cars as evidenced by increasing website traffic and online configurations being sent to dealers."

 

so maybe the factory will hire back those 850 they sacked on 1 hour of notice? ha!

 

Probably not anytime soon, but there sales still looked very good compared to the other automakers.

 

"The economy slowed so much in December and January that MINI felt the pain," said Jim McDowell, Vice-President of MINI USA. "In February however, sales were up 36 percent compared to January '09 ..."

Sorry, Jim, but that is considered playing with numbers. Don't compare February sales to January (up 36 percent) unless you tell us what the change is like in a "normal" year. If it usually goes up 45 percent from January to February, I'm not impressed...if it is usually 25 percent, I am. That's why there something called "seasonally adjusted" increase.

 

Yes, the news is pretty bleak for all automakers these days, but MINI is probably positioned to do better than most.

 

With the economy the way it is, ANYTIME numbers are up is a good thing.

 

Exactly!

I am sure MINI will take sales down only 17% anyday when nearly every other automaker is down twice or three times that amount. I would say being down only 17% is rather impressive in today's market.

 

MINI will probably rebound faster too in fact when MINI rebounds we might be able to look at that as a leading indicator for the broader economy.

 

Plain fact is it only showed down 17% vs Feb 2008. Sales are down over 50% vs the monthly run rate of May 2008 to Oct 2008. Sales were 5K to 6K units a month. I fear given stock values, job cuts, and FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) sales will continue to be under 3000 units a month for the remainder of this year.

 

And why was this...the only cars selling during that period were those getting exceptional gas mileage (such as the MINI).

Today, gasoline averages $1.93 a gallon.

Now in May 2008 through most of the summer it was a totally different picture for the average price of regular gasoline in the US.

May 05, 2008 361.3
May 12, 2008 372.2
May 19, 2008 379.1
May 26, 2008 393.7
Jun 02, 2008 397.6
Jun 09, 2008 403.9
Jun 16, 2008 408.2
Jun 23, 2008 407.9
Jun 30, 2008 409.5
Jul 07, 2008 411.4
Jul 14, 2008 411.3
Jul 21, 2008 406.4
Jul 28, 2008 395.5
Aug 04, 2008 388
Aug 11, 2008 380.9
Aug 18, 2008 374
Aug 25, 2008 368.5
Sep 01, 2008 368
Sep 08, 2008 364.8
Sep 15, 2008 383.5
Sep 22, 2008 371.8
Sep 29, 2008 363.2

So based on the sales from May 2008-Oct 2008, the expectation is MINI sales should currently be around be 8,000-10,000 units per month? This same way of thinking is what got the US in the current housing problem.

Besides the economy, MINI sales have leveled out to where they were prior to the huge increase in the cost of gasoline last summer. Gas prices dropped, consumers go with only what they see that day and turn away from cars with high gas mileage. The problem occurred for hybrids. Toyota Prius was selling at MSRP or above during the gas crisis, well, things changed alot for hybrids once the price of gasoline came down.

 

Just FYI, not all mfrs sales are off like this.......

Subaru, Kia and Hyundai are actually up over last year, Subaru by quite a bit due to the new Forester........most everyone else is off considerably tho.

 

Kia and Hyundai are up due to their buyback offer... which may or may not end up biting them in the ****.

 

Look dude, I don't want to get into a pissing contest with you. I'm not sure where your "expectation" figure comes from. But my only statement is that I strongly believe that Mini will do well to sell 2500 to 3000 cars a month for the rest of this year. And as each months sales get compared to the same month in 2008, the year to year sales decline will be much steeper than that seen in the first two months of this year.

I like my 2009 I bought in October. I recommend the car to anyone asks if I like it.

It's just that the sh*t is hitting the fan much faster than I thought was even possible.

Buckle up, we are all in for a very wild ride.

 

Call it what you want, but the Assurance Program was a BRILLIANT idea in today's market (btw it does not apply to Kia). So far they have only had 2 cars returned. And for Kia, even without the Assurance Program, January 2009 sales were it’s second best January sales since Kia entered the US market in October 1992.

With the all-new Genesis and Coupe to soon follow, the Assurance Program definitely makes it appealing. Funny thing is it seems Hyundai never really aimed for Toyota, but has made leaps up and over them and shows no real sign of stopping as they will soon have the all new Sonata and Kia is coming out with the Forte, all new Sorrento, and Soul.

 

Pissing contest? By no means man

Was just trying to clarify your statement of "Sales are down over 50% vs the monthly run rate of May 2008 to Oct 2008" is not due to the economy, but mainly due the price of gasoline. People get to hung up on sales figures and often over look what they really reflect.

Take for example the Ford Focus, during that same period last year, they couldn't keep them on the dealership lots because of their high gas mileage; forget the figure, but they were constantly up like 30-40% compare to the same month the previous year. So gas prices tumble in late summer and what happens to the Focus and other fuel sipping cars, sales tumble.

Personally, I think you buy a car for what it is...a depreciating asset. Sales are going to rise and fall. However, as is the case with the MINI, buy a Great product and you will love it still years down the road.

 

Yeah, it's good marketing... and if they've only had 2 returned, then it's working out well so far. But many people have lost their jobs already, and many more will lose their jobs before this is over. If Hyundai Kia does start getting returns, or if the fine-print is such that people are largely prevented from a return (not familiar enough with the details to know if this is really a danger), the plan may backfire. Good on them if it hasn't yet, though.

The ride has already been wild enough!
Worst. Rollercoaster. Ever.

 

Now that the new convertible is out and Spring is around the corner, you will probably see their sales going back up.

 

Would it be selfish to hope that sales stay mediocre so that when I order my Mini in May I'll be offered a decent APR? LOL...

 

Only time will tell....

 

Mini's sales this year would be about the same as last year if they had the convertable to sell at all. The Clubman was just starting to show up exactly a year ago (I think) so sales in March will stink, then the Cabrio sales will start to count in April. Because Mini is such a niche car and not an econobox I don't think the same rules appy to them as Toyota and Ford, etc. Their numbers are much smaller so X fewer cars will affect their % more too. The good has mileage will help more and more, regardless of current pump prices. People know that $4 gas isn't far away and here to stay.

 

 

i think every automaker is slowing down

 

For every 100 US drivers of driving age there are 96 registered vehicles that are an average of 9 years old. In the UK there are about 65 and in China there are about 5. So the US market is saturated, it's just relacing wornout vehicles that they live on, and people moving up in price. Moving up in price fluctuates with the economy, but wearing out vehicles doesn't. I don't know when they reached the saturation point but I bet it was in the last 5 years when car companies were fat. Now, not so much.