Since we ran this story (originally titled “Production Shortage at Oxford?”) I've recently been informed that there is no parts shortage at the MINI plant in Oxford. Good thing to becuase that title was really nice to delete! The plant in Oxford typically seems to run like a well oiled machine so any type of shortage would be a bit out of the ordinary. That being said there seems to be some shortages in the allotments of the 2005 Cooper at some US dealerships. Here's some insight from someone at one of these dealers:
” We were one of the top 10 dealers in the country last year, so our allocations have been pretty big (we got almost 40 Coopers for June production), but we were only allocated 5 Coopers for July (first run of \'05\'s) and 0! for August.
Of course we only got 12 MCS's for August production and 5 each of the convertibles, so things are tight all over.
Update: We've got word from a source on the other side of the pond on the real issues at play here:
The normal allocations are lower for 'stock' vehicles due to the change from 04 to 05 spec and the introduction of Cabrio, which effectively soaks up 30% of what would have been pure hatchback cars. Demand for Cabrio has gone ballistic, so something has to give, that coupled with 05 change over means
that waiting times will inevitably increase for a while until things settle
down again. That said 'and off the record' we're looking at ways to increase
production still further.
So there you have it! Now go out and order your 2005 MINIs!
<p>Big thanks as always to fooldragon for this insight.</p>
<p>MINI dealers must be up in arms. Maybe they can make it up in shirts and hats.
Sheesh.</p>
<p>That's just great. I took all the steps (sell the other SUV, pay off other car) to get ready for an MCS, and now I'll have to wait in line – no thanks. </p>
<p>I should have bought the '04 Red/Black MCS I test drove (didn't have all the options I wanted).</p>
<p>This might mean the dealer markups will rise OR the current “on the floor” stock prices will drop. But one thing is for sure, the resale values should maintain somewhat, so long as the miles are below average.</p>
<p>As long as u find a good dealer, you shouldn't have to worry about markups, but either way waiting sux.</p>
<p>CHRIS,</p>
<p>as I have stated here before, I got mine on Ebay. I have been looking to maybe upgrade from my 2002 MCS and have been shopping on line. Many, many cars available most with low miles a lot in FL. I recently saw a MCS with 12 miles, fully equiped on Ebay. Wrong color for me but it had all but JCW's package.</p>
<p>Dealers and PPs all sell online the
warranty is in place so whats to loose.</p>
<p>Just a thought. I had no probs with the Ebay seller…RB</p>
<p>Chris,</p>
<p>On Ebay just saw a 2003 MCS Red/Wt with everything, 3000 miles bidding starts at $21,000…RB</p>
<p>I put a down payment on a 2005 Cooper S last weekend… Does the supply shortage effect the 6-speed in the Cooper S at all? or is it just the 5 speed getrag?</p>
<p>We don't know for sure if the transmission is what's holding up the Cooper, that was just speculation because it's really the only part that's different and required in mass quantities. This shouldn't affect the MCS at all, as evidenced by the large allocations we've been getting.</p>
<p>On a side note, ALL of the first run of MC convertibles will be 5-speeds, with no automatic in the near future.</p>
<p>Interesting … its kind of ironic … im in canada and its rare to see MINI, at least it was up until a few months ago</p>
<p>lately, I think they've been selling like mad, they're everywhere!</p>
<p>it makes me happy and sad at the same time … now its becoming a bit more 'regular' in that more people have it</p>
<p>I was at Mini of Peabody yesterday, supposedly the highest selling dealer in the country. There was only ONE car in the showroom, and hardly any on the lot. Which means new ones aren't coming in for people to pick up.</p>
<p>Joe – you are right. I put the blame on the stripper “Mini Cooper Classic” model. I think they are selling well. 'S' models are still kind of rare (in my parts anyway)</p>
<p>My local dealer had just one MCS (sold already) and 5 MCs. Their other dealer one state over had zero MCs altogether. </p>
<p>When does '05 production start? Should I wait patiently for an '05?</p>
<p>well, im in california-north hollywood, and i have an mcs, i find it that you usually see more Mini cooper s's than just coopers, but most of the time the s models have men driving them and the coopers have about 2 cute young girls riding in them, i dont know, its wiered, but i like it</p>
<p>I don't think this is true. My dealer got 10 Cabrios, 20 S's and 28 Coopers for Aug production.</p>
<p>July 1, 2005 and No, rush out and get one of the “original version” 2004s.</p>
<p>Like I said, I don't know what's causing the shortage or even if there is one. Seems odd to me, though, that we would get 30 Coopers in June, 5 in July and 0 in August, and again, we're a top 10 dealer.</p>
<p>Ian and Joe… There's quite a few in Southern Ontario… at a upcoming event, it looks like there will be easily over 50 MINIs at a BBQ…</p>
<p>Does this mean that if you have already ordered a MINI and are scheduled for week 28 production it will be delayed?</p>
<p>@Dan, i thinks so! My dealer here is calling the costumers that there MINIS are not in time here. (Only the Cooper models, not the Cooper S )
<em>This is for the Netherlands</em></p>
<p>Doesn't this mean the MCS's and the one convertibles will be produced rather early (or at least on time)</p>
<p>edit: should have read what quicksilver wrote…</p>
<p>Quicksilver,</p>
<p>I have a daughter that lives in Hilversum, is that near you?…RB</p>
<p>Dan – </p>
<p>If you already have a production slot for week 28, it's going to be built. In fact, it may have already been locked for production.</p>
<p>All this allocation shortage does is affect future allocations, not current ones.</p>
<p>I put in my order for a MC-C last weekend. Salesman told me there was about a 6 month leadtime (Dec/Jan) for the Cabrio and that I was about #30 on his list.</p>
<p>RB, Hilversum is +/-90km from my hometown, i live near Eindhoven if you now that place :-))</p>
<p>Our dealership in California got 21 Coopers and 18 S's last month for its first 05 allocation. This months allocation was 17 S's six Cooper Convertibles., five Convertible S's and ZERO Cooper hardtops.</p>
<p>I ordered an '05 MCS from Mini of Peabody at the end of April. When I finally got to define the specs in May, they told me it would be here in August. They haven't told me anything different, so I'm assuming it's still on target. The salesman did seem surprised at their low allocation.</p>
<p>This might be an indication that Miniusa might be changing the mix of cars they are brining to the US by significantly reducing the number of standard cooper hardtops (lower profit margins)instead they could focus on the more profitable MCS's and convertible MC's and MCS's here in the US.</p>
<p>There was no need for mini to raise prices in the US when all they had to do was to reduce production of the cooper with the lowest profit (MC hardtop) and susbstitute it with one its most profitable ones (MC convertible).</p>
<p>There's a chance that the standard MC hardtops might be more rare then MCS hardtops in 2005 and especially when an automatic MCS appears sometime in the 1st quarter of next year.</p>
<p>No one knows for sure since its all just conjecture at this point.</p>
<p>The talk abou the allocations is exteremly misleading. Our dealership can be considered one of the top 10 dealers as well, but we only recieved 7 cars to build in june. But for August we recieved well more than 30 s's to build and almost the same for coopers. So as you can see when one dealer gets shorted, another one just hit the jackpot! It is MINIUSAs way of making sure everyone gets the same amount of cars. (which really doesn't make anysense to me but i am not miniusa) MINIUSA counts the cars in your pipeline (from orders to production cars, to cars on the boat to cars at the dealer) and then chooses how many cars you should recieve based on that number. We have all been getting roughly the same amount of cars from the factory every year however this year they are changing to an spg which will spell disaster for many dealerships that have more than one dealership in a 200 mile radius. Dealerships with only one location and are serving more than one state will be getting more cars than say southern CA dealers were there are several within 200 miles…</p>
<p>Well thats what i have been told at least…</p>