The Last Day to Order an ’06?

When I was ordering my MCS a week and a half ago, the sales rep was telling Todd and I that to compensate for the ramping down of production on the current cars over the next few months, MINI is actually holding back pre-spec’d cars to keep dealer allocations consistent all the way through the transition to the R56. Otherwise dealers could run out of cars in the interim between November, when R50/R53 production stops, and January when the first of the’07s arrive in the USA. So it looks like during the last few months of the model run cars will still be available all the way up to when the new car comes out – but with pre-spec’d configurations. That’s been eluded to here on MotoringFile, but that’s a little more direct confirmation. Though she didn’t go into any specifics as to when the cut-off date would be for custom orders, based on that information it looks as though we can fully expect not only will the first of the ’07 MINIs be pre-spec’d, but most likely some of the last of the ’06 MINIs.

Makes me very glad to have my order in!

NS in NE

Yeah, it’s definitely worth noting – and from the sound of what Todd and I were told, MINI is actually already now holding pre-spec’c cars back in inventory to cover that gap between the end of ’06 production and ’07 USA delivery. Makes me wonder if there will be a certain number of custom order cars available to the bitter end. I wouldn’t bank on it though. It’ll probably be as you say – with the last couple months of production churning out the same dozen configurations until they shut it down. But hey, worst-case scenario they’re still MINIs and will probably have all the normal goodies. It just might be tough to get the color you want or get specific options left off, but there will still be some MINIs to be had.

Something I didn’t know until I tried to log into the Owner’s Lounge for the first time was that the dealer’s allocation is pre-spec’d from the get go. They’re getting a set number of cars each month and the configuration of those cars is set ahead of time. Whenever someone custom orders a MINI, the dealer goes in and changes the configuration of an already pre-spec’d car in their allocation to match what the customer wants. For example, for the first couple of days I tried to log in to the Owner’s Lounge, my production number came back as an Astro Black MCS – not the Dark Silver MCS I had ordered. The system hadn’t registered the changes to that pre-spec’d, allocated MINI. So if I hadn’t ordered my MINI when I did and no one else had for a set period of time, I can only assume that Baron would have received the original spec Astro Black MCS in their allocation by default.

So in looking at how these last few months of production will go down, it could be that nothing will really change in how MINI pre-spec’s the cars, simply fewer and fewer cars available for custom order. Who knows? The moral of the story is order soon if you want your MINI Burger King-style: your way.

order soon if you want your MINI Burger King-style

lol… you mean with some huge wooden-headed freak in the rearview mirror grinning back at you unexpectedly?

from what i understand, dealers can order 06s as long as their allocation lasts. i assume though at some point, the dealer will have to order their remaining allocation regardless of if they are sold or not.