Jul 5th, 2014
Official Release:First things first was the motto for Joan “Nani” Roma (ES) when the 2014 Dakar Rally winner visited the iconic Goodwood Festival of Speed in England before he will be heading for the 2014 Baja Arágon in Spain later this month. During the world famous motorsport event Roma competed in the spectacular 2.86 kilometre hill-climb race in front of thousands of motorsport enthusiasts from around the globe. Alongside Roma: his powerful yellow MINI ALL4 Racing in which he claimed the Dakar victory for the MINI brand and the Monster Energy X-raid Team just over five months ago in the world’s most demanding long-distance rally.
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Jul 4th, 2014
MINI USA’s sales are off pace by over 25% for the year and 18% for the month of June. However if you look at the figures the problem isn’t as simple as it might seem. continued →
Jul 3rd, 2014
Car buying has evolved significantly in the past decade, even since the MINI as we know it came into being. Yet one thing remains the same, the cars still have to be sold. MINI holds training sessions for its dealers to this day, but the chaps at Jalopnik found this highly entertaining training video talking all about the fine points of what made a Mini the car to buy in 1978.
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Jul 2nd, 2014
According to German market research company GfK, BMW and MINI’s iDrive system is the industries best worldwide. The automaker scored highest for user experience with Audi and Mercedes in 2nd and 3rd place. However above all was customer experience associated with Apple’s iPhone. Here’s an excerpt:
The overall user experience score for automakers’ human-machine interface (HMI) systems was 4.3 out of a possible 6.0.
By comparison, the iPhone scores well above 5.0, said Tim Bosenick, global head of user experience at German market research GfK. He presented his findings at the we.CONECT Car HMI Concepts & Systems conference in Berlin this week.
Bosenick created GfK’s user experience score. It is based on: how easy it is to learn and use the HMI system; its look and feel; and, most important, whether the user is inspired to do more and more with it. This is where the iPhone scores very high.
Read the full report at Automotive News
Jul 1st, 2014
The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported June sales of 35,577 vehicles, an increase of 5.7 percent from the 33,645 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, the BMW Group (BMW and MINI combined) is up 5.1 percent on sales of 181,534 in the first half of 2014 compared to 172,787 in the same period in 2013. MINI has struggled during the first half of the year to keep pace with last year; did June buck the trend? Full details after the jump.
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Jul 1st, 2014
News just in. Russ Swift just drove a blue MINI Cooper off the line to celebrate 2.5 million MINIs made at the plant. continued →
Jul 1st, 2014
Effectively replacing the Clubman in size and position in the line-up, the F55 five door will hit UK and European showrooms around August with US deliveries starting later this year. We have high expectations for the new five door. Combining the agility and improved feedback and feel of the F56 (as compared with the previous generation), the F55 will add a healthy dose of practicality to the range as well. But how does it look with the new JCW aerokit? This is our first chance to find out. continued →
