MINI Sales Down 21% for October
MINI USA reported sales of 4,176 automobiles, a decrease of 20.8 percent compared to 5,272 cars reported in the same month a year ago when MINI benefited over-proportionally from $4 dollar gas prices. Year-to-date, MINI USA also reported sales of 39,172 automobiles, a decrease of 14.8 percent, compared to the 45,966 cars reported in the first ten months of 2008.
“October played trick or treat with us and we got a mixed bag of news with no clear trend,†said Jim McDowell, Vice President MINI USA. “While our dealers reported a lot of cautious customers and pragmatic buying choices, we also saw an inspiring performance in the West with sales being above last year.â€
<p>Looks like the new Cabrio is the primary factor separating the YTD numbers for MINI from the rest of the BMW brand</p>
<p>Bad news for BMW: aging X3 sales figure looks awfully bad and there will be no new X1/X3 until at least 2011. Even Mini R60 crossover is delayed till sometime next year.</p>
<p>Yea, the convertible sales dont look good. But this is maybe due to the price increase from the last model to the newest. Which is being transfered into clubman sales. Which is around the same price point. With low volumes like this all sales are critical and show great fluctuations due to small margins.</p>
<p>It’s confusing to read an article claiming MINI sales are up one day, and then the very next day there is one saying they are down. Hard to know what is fact and what is marketing BS.</p>
<p>The MINI Sales are up worldwide but down in The U.S. market. You obviously didn’t read the complete info Paul. Not to be rude. We are still weathering the storm nicely in my opinion and the new products coming out should help to strengthen things in the years ahead.</p>
<p>I’ll blame MF staff for not making it clear to us obviously lazy people who can’t handle 1600-word press releases :)</p>
<p>You are right, I took one look at yesterday’s article and figured life was too short to read it all; relied on the headline and first paragraph instead.</p>
<p>We are still in the midst of the worst financial crisis the world has ever seen since the last great depression. We still have lots of people out of work. Raising living costs, stagnant salaries and a devaluating currency (Plus going back to a trend of higher gas prices) are not helping anybody. Most people’s priorities right now lie in putting food on the table, clothing their children, paying for healthcare costs and generally make ends meet. The last thing in most people’s agenda is to buy a nice new shiny $30K+ MINI.</p>
<p>Even folks that already have MINIs are keeping them longer and longer, fixing them as they go (Yours truly).</p>
<p>The storm ain’t over yet. We are on this for the long haul. And for as long as MINI asking prices continue to skyrocket, don’t be surprised to see less traffic in your showrooms.</p>
<p>Actually the convertible sales appear to be the only models with a sales increase. Up 650% from last October, and even up 13.3% for YTD. Although the overall numbers are the lowest.</p>
<p>I think the 1 and X3 sales numbers are the big story here.</p>
<p>Clubman seems nice and consistent.</p>