MINI USA bucked the industry average of -0.4% January year-on-year sales decline and delivered ten more units for a total of 3,238 deliveries, a rise of 0.3%. Now, MINI doesn’t really have a specific brand that they compete against, like BMW competes with Mercedes-Benz and Audi, so it’s hard to figure out a benchmark with which to compare MINI sales. I made a table of the sales numbers for several brands that compete for some or all of the MINI customer dollars. Considered against these brands, MINI USA’s January numbers look pretty good! While Scion had a large year-on-year increase, SMART, VW and Fiat all dropped more than 10%! The Fiat 500x isn’t selling as well as hoped, the updated SMART isn’t enough of an improvement to reverse their sales trend, and VW’s problems are anything but gone.

These are the January 2015 and 2016 monthly sales numbers for several brands that sell in the MINI market space. Data compiled by the author.
These are the January 2015 and 2016 monthly sales numbers for several brands that sell in the MINI market space. Data compiled by the author.
These are the January 2015 and 2016 monthly sales numbers for several brands that sell in the MINI market space. Data compiled by the author.
These are the January 2015 and 2016 monthly sales numbers for several brands that sell in the MINI market space. Data compiled by the author.

Looking at MINIs January sales by model, one item jumped out: MINI USA now sells more cars with four doors (62.1%) than two. In January of 2015, just over 56% of deliveries had two doors. Like it or not, the buying public is speaking and they buy more when MINI is larger and the rear seat is easier to use. With the 4-door and the Clubman selling well, 2016 looks like it should be a pretty good year for MINI USA.

Official News: Woodcliff Lake, NJ – February 2, 2016… Sales of BMW brand vehicles decreased 4.7 percent in January for a total of 18,082 compared to 18,981 vehicles sold in January, 2015.

“As expected, January suffered a bit from the strong storms that froze large parts of the country,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America.

MINI Brand Sales
 For January, MINI USA reports 3,238 automobiles sold, an increase of 0.3 percent from the 3,228 sold in the same month a year ago.

BMWNAMontlySales012016

MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles

  • Sales of MINI NEXT (certified pre-owned) set a January record with 855 vehicles, up 0.7 percent over January 2015.
  • Total MINI Pre-Owned sales for January were 1,853 cars, an increase of 1.9 percent from January 2015.