From MINIUSA PR:

Woodcliff Lake, NJ – October 21, 2003 … Over 95 percent of all MINIs reaching the U.S. market in the month of September were pre-sold before ever reaching the dealer lot and out of all MINIs sold last month, 85% were uniquely ordered by the customer before the car was even assembled.

Clearly MINI owners' demand for custom-built cars has made for strong sales of the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S. Within the first nine months of 2003, sales achieved 25,720 units, doubling the number of cars sold to over 50,000 units since the brand's launch 19 months ago.

“Our MINI brand philosophy emphasizes fun and individuality and we recognize the customer's desire to create his or her own unique MINI,” said Jack Pitney, General Manager of MINI USA. “As such, we have been very successful, making it easy for customers to specify their new MINI with a plethora of standard and optional equipment – even accessory items.”

Where other manufacturers limit the way customers can specify their cars, MINI offers all options 'a-la-cart', giving customers total freedom to build the car with the options they want. Popular options are also grouped into three convenient “Combo” packages for ease of ordering. Additionally, customers can choose from MINI's complete line of dealer-installed accessories at the time the car is ordered, giving them the opportunity to include the cost into their financing.

“We find that many MINI customers enter the showroom already knowing what they want,” says MINI Product Manager, Kevin Philips. “Our website lets them research MINI and create their own dream-car”, he adds. The popular “build-your-own” feature on the MINI USA website (www.miniusa.com) lets customers specify and price their ideal MINI – including all dealer accessories – in advance of visiting their local dealer.

There is an additional incentive to pre-ordering: Customers do not have to wait long for their special order to arrive from the factory. MINI has streamlined the ordering process to provide “priority build” status to retail customers' special ordered cars, putting the orders at the head of the line. The average wait-time for delivery to a U.S. customer who orders his or her car from the factory is only an average of 2.5 to 3 months – another reason why MINI customers choose to order what they want.

The day's supply for MINI in September was the lowest since its launch at just 4.5 vehicles for September. In addition to customer demand, it is worth noting that these low levels are also affected by production limitations due to the changeover for the 2004 model year.