MINI USA reported the best September ever with sales of 5,306 automobiles, an increase of 8.3 percent from the 4,899 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI sales in the U.S. are up 2.3 percent on volume of 49,635 compared to 48,531 in the first nine months of 2012.
The big news here in the Coupe outselling all models with the exception of the hatch and Countryman. What’s the motivation for Coupe buyers? Your guesses are as good as ours. Also up is the Roadster an to a lesser degree the Convertible. And the Countryman? Way down.
Full chart after the break.
MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles
In September, MINI used automobiles (including MINI NEXT certified pre-owned and pre-owned) reported sales of 1,701 automobiles, a decrease of 0.7 percent from the 1,713 sold in September, 2012. However, January through September, MINI used vehicle sales are up 17.9 percent on volume of 16,181 compared to 13,728 in the same period of 2012.
<p>There will be another sales record breaking months untill F56 debut – everyone would like to get the last real mini before the introduction of goldfishin thing…</p>
<p>exactly what everyone said in 2006 just before the r56 came out…</p>
<p>Nice to see the coupe finally starting to do well. I hope this continues and that MINI continue it into the future rather than drop it as many speculated before. It is a rather good looking little sports car!</p>
<p>and very dangerous to drive. thanks to the bad vision</p>
<p>I’ve driven one for 2 years with no issues. As long as the side mirrors are adjusted properly it’s no problem at all. And it’s a heck of a lot of fun to drive!</p>
<p>Exactly. Same story on the top-up Roadster. It’s not zero visibility, it’s different visibility. With mirrors done right, there are no car-sized blind spots to be had.</p>
<p>well 660 people didn’t seem to notice on their test drives last month ;)</p>
<p>And of course ALL of them were only grading the car on that criteria. ;)</p>
<p>I have been driving a Roadster for 18 months and do not find it (visibility) to be a problem, no more so than my 2009 R56</p>
<p>Right on! The key is propering setting of the side mirrors, which most people in this country seem to never have been taught. Approaching 2 year anniversary with my coupe and loving it. As did the workers at Gingerman last weekenn who had not seen one.</p>
<p>In related news, people have seen the F56.</p>
<p>More evidence that the Paceman is simply drawing from the same pool of buyers who would otherwise consider the Countryman.</p>
<p>For all the rumors of the impending demise of the Coupe and Roadster, it’s interesting to note that in the absence of these two models September sales would have been down by -5.3%.</p>
<p>That assumes that not one person who bought the Coupe or Roadster would’ve bought any other model of MINI if they weren’t available.</p>
<p>If my coupe is any example, sales are up because everyone who sees this car in person seems to absolutely love it, and proceed to ask me about it. Maybe word is getting out that there’s a new MINI out there that’s really cool. It was fun knowing there were fewer Coupes than GP IIs for a while but now that’s definitely not the case.</p>
<p>Dealerships punched all the convertibles, coupes and roadster into demo status. The MINI are still sitting on the dealership lots.</p>
<p>If that’s true, then there are deals to be had on demonstrators.</p>
<p>YEP- and more than likely employee lease deals. Same thing happened when BMW could move Z4s- huge spike for two months as employee leasing was $199 a month for a loaded car no money down…</p>