MINI Sales Down 3.3% For November

This sales decrease may be a sign of the overall economic slow-down in the U.S. and dare I say it, coming recession.

FWIW Autoblog reports that with sales day adjusted numbers (number of business days in the month) sales increased 3.3% for Nov.

some nutcase is going to come along and say it’s because the r56 is retarded and nobody wants them.

Well last year the model year closeout didn’t go that well either. 2007s weren’t recieved until Feb/07 and now the 08s won’t be on the ground till Jan. Since dealers only have 07s (except convts), I am confused as to why a manufacture would only show 08s on their web site. The clubman is going to be the shizzle. :-)

“This sales decrease may be a sign of the overall economic slow-down in the U.S. and dare I say it, coming recession”

Are you getting you “news” from the NYT?

According to Marketwatch, the 3rd quarter GDP was revised to 4.9%, the fastest expansion of the economy in four years, and 24th consecutive quarter of Expansion.

It is a good thing the SAV is coming along to SAVe the day!

“FWIW Autoblog reports that with sales day adjusted numbers (number of business days in the month) sales increased 3.3% for Nov.”

yeah, because people only buy cars between 9-5 M-F.

“some nutcase is going to come along and say it’s because the r56 is retarded and nobody wants them.”

there might be some truth to that. with a perceived (not real) recession and gas at $3/gal, you’d think the R56 with direct injection and MUCH better gas mileage than the R53 would attract new customers. Perhaps the brand has matured and the ‘one trick pony’ needs to broaden it’s appeal. Doing so without diluting the hard-fought brand identity is the trick.

“Yeah, a lot of people are excited about the Clubman!” “The clubman is going to be the shizzle.”

I could use more space in my car. The Clubman isn’t the answer, for me, especially if one considers the (lack of) value MINI offers. Even a tarted up JCW Stage II Clubman (if there will be such a thing) can’t hang with the competition in the power department. Other cars come stock with more power than the proposed improvements. Makes a 335xi seem like a better choice than a Clubman

Well we are down YTY 2 months in a row… a first for MINI. Anybody that doesn’t thing the BMW bean counters aren’t crapping kittens has got their head in the sand…

What would be interesting to note is 1) What is the average on lot time, or inventory on hand, and 2)What’s the production vs capacity for the factoryvs time?

Here in the SF Bay Area, we’re getting radio adds for the Mini for the first time in a long while. We can debate ad nausium about why and what, but it’s true that marketing efforts have stepped up, it’s true that (at least here) the sales premiums have gone away, and it’s true that there have been some promotions that didn’t happen before (Like the october whatever it was).

It’s also true that there’s more competition for the car dollars in it’s size market.

It’s also true that for power junkies, Mini is standing still, while others are moving towards higher numbers (not that I think it’s nessesary, but it’s still a fact).

Only time will tell if it’s noise or a trend….

Matt