MINI USA Sales Down 6.7% for September
MINI USA reported September sales of 3,762 automobiles, down 6.7 percent from the 4,031 cars sold in September 2007. Year-to-date, the division reported sales of 40,694 automobiles, an increase of 27.4 percent, compared to the 31,936 cars reported in the first nine months of 2007.
“Tight inventories restricted September MINI sales, which were 269 units below prior year levels,” said Jim McDowell, Vice-President of MINI USA. “Despite high gas prices, limited credit opportunities, and concern about the overall economy, more and more Americans are rethinking automotive choices they have always made. We think this is the reason why we ended the month with only a six day supply of cars in our retailers’ showrooms. In the coming month, we look forward to increased production for our market to help replenish our dealer stocks.”
As we can see <a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pHlqhgEuxAfLyY0WinG94Iw&gid=4" rel="nofollow">on the sales chart I maintain</a>, this month’s sales are still above most months since 2002 …
Despite McDowell’s disclaimers, I doubt that even MINI is immune to the current economic downturn. Princeton MINI actually had new MINIs on the lot and the online inventory shows many more MINIs than this summer. Yes, I know that the online inventory includes vehicles ordered by customers – my point is that both the online inventory and the lot were barren this summer.
The days of selling every MINI they could get with little or no effort may finally be gone which could be good news for folks that wish to dicker.
I would say Mr. McDowell’s comments are part of the issue. Would bet the severe tightening of the credit market isn’t helping either.
Yeah, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!!!
They did quite well since most manufacturers slipped 20-30% because of credit tightening and energy costs. If they had more verts on hand the numbers would have been higher too.
Sales always fall as summer ends & people feel that back-to-school money pinch. The credit crunch & economic uncertainty definitely hasn’t helped either. It’s just a cyclic thing with help.
This is the reason BMW differs to Porsche. BMW wants to be a volume car-maker but with a luxury premium product which returns fat-profit margins to dealers. That has now changed.
Whereas Porsche make a limited premium product with fat margins. Apart from the Cayenne and new Panamera? they have stuck to their roots and design.
BMW can’t have it both ways in times of recession.
Best case scenario is to have demand outstripping supply.
The party is over, folks. Now we will be going back to the days when cash was king (Pre-1980’s) and credit cards/easy credit lines were a rarity reserved for the privileged few.
These grim economics times may actually be a “blessing in disguise”. First, people will start to live within or below their means, the days of carrying large sums of revolving credit card debt may become a memory in the not so distant future. People will have to truly save and earn the money if they want to purchase a car or a house.
Another bonus from this economic crisis….. Finally “We the people” will have come to our senses and throw out the bums currently in power come November.
It’ll be interesting to see what’s up. 6 day supply is still very small. It may be a blip or it may be a trend, a couple more months will tell.
I’m hoping that this will signal the end of markups. We just got a base Clubman from Mini of the Hamptons, in part because Mini of Mountain View was still charging markups! MotH only had one unsold car on the lot, a pretty base JCW coupe. Every other car was factory order for quite a while. Another clubbie that was there was getting prepped to be shipped to San Diego!
Matt