MINI USA Sales Numbers for June
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.
MINI Brand Sales
For June, MINI USA reported 5,376 automobiles, a decrease of 18.2 percent from the 6,571 automobiles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA reported a sales total of 24,152 automobiles, a decrease of 25.4 percent from the 32,356 automobiles sold in the first half of 2013.
MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles
In June, MINI used automobiles (including MINI NEXT certified pre-owned and pre-owned) reported sales of 1,924 automobiles, an increase of 2.5 percent from the 1,877 automobiles sold in June, 2013. Year-to-date, MINI used automobiles (including MINI NEXT certified pre-owned) reported sales of 12,339 automobiles, an increase of 19.5 percent from the 10,324 automobiles sold in the first half of 2013.
BMW Brand Sales – Best First Half Ever
Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 11.5 percent in June for a total of 30,201 compared to 27,074 vehicles sold in June, 2013. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 12.1 percent on sales of 157,382 compared to 140,431 sold in the first half of 2013.
“The June and first-half results prove again that customer demand is solid and stronger than many have thought and we fully expect confidence and demand to stay strong through the end of the year,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. “I am particularly pleased with the results for our 2 and 4 Series models; these are driving machines at the core of the BMW brand.”
BMW Pre-Owned Vehicles
In June, sales of BMW used vehicles (including certified pre-owned and pre-owned) increased 10.0 percent to 15,241 vehicles compared to the 13,859 vehicles sold in June 2013. Year-to-date, BMW used vehicles (including certified pre-owned) are up 13.1 percent on sales of 97,939 compared to 86,559 sold in the first half of 2013.
BMW Motorrad Sales
BMW Motorrad USA reported sales of 1,327 motorcycles in June, a decrease of 3.4 percent from the total of 1,374 motorcycles sold in June 2013.
The R 1200 GS was the brand’s best selling model with 190 units, helping drive growth of 7 percent in R-Series models with 517 boxer deliveries in June compared to 482 in June of last year.
With 290 retails compared to 202 last year, S-Series performance increased by 44 percent with the HP4 up 168 percent in the month with 58 deliveries compared to 22 in June of 2013.
BMW Motorrad continues to perform ahead of last year, up 8.2 percent after 6 months.
<p>My local dealer is stocked full of F56’s. I don’t think the problem is with model changeover but more with the product. I just don’t think a lot of people like the new look at all. I’ve also heard from a buddy of mine that works for a MINI dealership in LA, that he has had a lot of complaints about performance in the S. While not 100% sure these are the causes of the decrease in sales, I really think it has played a part in the continued decline in sales.</p>
<p>The majority of new MINI customers are waiting for F55.</p>
<p>The majority of new MINI customers probably don’t know about the F55.</p>
<p>BMW’s global market research suggests that F55 will outsell F56 by 3:1. Inevitably, F55 will steal some sales from R60, as will F54 Clubman 2 when it’s launched next spring. Senior insiders have revealed, however, that F60 Countryman 2 will preview MINI’s new look, following which all subsequent MINI variants will have a more individual style, rather than sharing a corporate ‘face’ as they do at present.</p>
<p>That’s an entirely different thing than customers being aware of and waiting for a model not presently on dealer lots.</p>
<p>According to my local UK MINI dealership, many customers are holding back from making a decision on buying a new MINI until they have seen F55 in the metal. They tell me that many others placed deposits even before prices and specs were available, without waiting to see the car. The dealer added that interest in F55 has been, “Unprecedented”.</p>
<p>Aldo worth noting UK and EU car buyers tend to be much more educated as a whole on new models.</p>
<p>Despite the best efforts of our politicians, the UK is still part of the EU :)</p>
<p>I’m one of those people who are very interested in the F55 but want to wait until I see it in the flesh this fall. In my case, I would be making a huge change… going from my ’12 JCWCoupe to an F55 S.</p>
<p>Reasons…I really like the handling, performance, eye catching, uniqueness of the F58, but, & that’s a big BUT. After 2 yrs & 9 months of driving the Coupe, I’ve found some negatives (at least for me) that are hard to overcome. it’s my only car, & more often than not, I’ve found the lack of space (lack of rear seats & boot/hatch capacity) a liability. I thought I’d be OK with those features, but I was wrong.</p>
<p>But even more so, is the poor rear visibility…especially toward the rear quarters. From behind the passenger window to the rear window, there’s really nil visibility when dealing with traffic, even with full use of side mirrors. I have the backup monitoring system which is very helpful in that area…a backup camera would be even better.</p>
<p>Having also had a 2008 R56 S hatch, I really want to stick with the MINI brand, even with my ‘discomfort’ with the frontal look on the F56 (& F55) S. All the new technology over the outgoing R series is strong enough for me to look to the F55 as my next MINI.</p>
<p>For me, it’s both a subjective as well as objective view on the F series. There are many who will not continue with MINi for their own reasons. That’s their choice. But I’m not one of them…..</p>
<p>You have to look at the ‘entire’ line of MINI’s to make a judgement on sales. Looking at ‘only’ the 2 door hatch for June 2014 compared to June 2013 is very similar at about 2300+ sales. Year to date is a good bit less this year & that likely is due to the changeover when no 2014 F56 models were available until the spring!</p>
<p>As for the other models re June figures, only the Countryman is holding its own. All others show significant declines compared to June 2013….especially the 2 seaters….huge drops for June as well as year to date figures! What does the future hold for those 2 models…except maybe a combo HT/convertible feature.</p>
<p>A sad reveal is the Paceman being outsold by the Countryman by at least 10X. I always thought the Paceman looked good, but the rear seat access compared to the Countryman just doesn’t stack up.</p>
<p>For the same reasons that the Countryman is outselling the Paceman could be a preview of how the sales of the F55 5 door may possibly outsell the F56…..easier rear seat access/usage!!</p>
<p>So the drop in sales among all the other models really has no connection outside of the R56 to F56 changeover, no matter what one thinks of the F56! They each have to be viewed individually re reasons of dropping sales.</p>
<p>These stories here on MF always lack the context of what the rest of the industry is doing. Light vehicle sales are up in the first half of the year here in the US, and BMW is with the rest of the pack there. MINI loosing volume is worrysome. If it really is due to model year changes, then they screwed the pooch there, as it’s a 6 month disruption in sales, and that’s too long. If it’s not the model change over, then it’s worrysome in that they are doing the opposite trend that the rest of the light vehicle fleet is doing! F56 design? High option prices? Option packaging? Decreasing performance delta with other small cars? I’m sure it’s all of that…</p>
<p>One thing is that now the policy decision to unbundle options makes more sense. If they thought they were loosing sales over it, I’d tell the logistic managers at the factory to take a hike as well. Easy to build and inventory doesn’t matter if the product doesn’t move, and the bundles would add about $1k to the the price of the car (wild ass’ed guess). That’s a big percentage increase on what starts as about a $20k car….</p>
<p>If you listen to the interviews and look at the numbers, the twins are dead. I can’t see how they will make it out of the dismal sales figures that they post to justify the effort to make the cars! I’ve been wrong before (I’m not an insider to BMW or MINI), but the sales numbers can’t be denied and the twins, while advertising gold, were commercial failures.</p>
<p>The paceman is actually a car I really enjoyed, even though I had to drive and auto for track work. But MINI massively screwed the pooch on pricing and marketing on it, and the sales numbers show just how badly.</p>
<p>It cannot be denied that the popularity that the brand enjoyed when it first came out is gone, (when’s the last time you were told that you had to make an appointment for a test drive, or that the wait for cars was 6 months or more, or that you had to pay a premium or you’d never get a car….., oh yeah, that ended in about 2003 during the first gen production!) and with that, they have to compete with an ever more competitive set of offerings in the segment. Just saying “We defined the premium compact” ain’t gonna cut it at all!</p>
<p>I’d rather not dip into the is it this or is it that pot just yet on many levels. All I know (and what I have been saying for a long time) is that MINI is killing BMW’s profits. That is all set to change- new factory going to be producing MINI variants, new shared BMW architecture- BMW moving to FWD to reach economies of scale on its own. If it was not for the Countryman MINI would be boarded up due to lack of profits, sales were flat and now heading south across the line up- the novelty has worn off, there are cheaper retro competitors. Remember when the competitor was the PT Cruiser- times have changed. MINI is moving towards meeting the masses to stay a float but if they miss it is going to sting- the F55 will be the saving grace.</p>
<p>I wish they broke out Cooper and Cooper S numbers separately.</p>
<p>My dealer here in Arizona had its best month since 2008 last month and is currently out of f-56 hard tops with automatic transmissions. They have not 1 on the lot. No demos,no displays.</p>
<p>My wife & my daughter both have F56 MINIs and this is my wife forth straight MINI in a row, its my daughter first. My wife thinks the new car is way better than the previous Cooper she had but then again it is a lot more expensive. My daughter absolutely loves her car she has a specced up MINI One. As an engineer the fit & finish is much improved over the previous model with better materials employed in its construction.
The US I find is an odd buying market and had some pretty ugly cars that would not see the light of day in Europe so what people see wrong in the F56 is beyond me.</p>