MINI USA sales just came out for March and they are up 59.5% compare to the same month last year. These results are primarily driven by the Hardtop 2-door, 4-door, and the Convertible while the rest of the lineup is significantly down. But let’s take a closer look at this month’s numbers.
Historically, March has always been a strong month for MINI and the industry at large; winter is almost over so potential buyers across the nation start visiting dealerships in light of their next purchase. In addition to that, successive snow storms between January and February didn’t facilitate the job of Motoring Advisors, and they have most likely seen more customers in March than initially anticipated.
As you can see, MINI USA has decided to provide the breakout of 2-door and 4-door Hardtop sales for the first time this month. The F55 has been in showrooms for about four months and is trending in a similar fashion as the Countryman did when it was released (a good sign if you ask us). These two cars account for 36.5% and 25.9% respectively of all MINI USA sales. And it sells 1.4 F56s for every F55. We wouldn’t be surprised to see this ratio tipping in favor of the 4-door in the coming months.
Sales for the rest of the lineup are pretty uneventful, except for Roadster and the Clubman. Roadster sales, while declining, are still surprisingly good, while two units of the Clubman were sold during the entire month of March. If one of these two Clubman owners are reading this post, please get in touch us, we’d like to know your story.
<p>Would be interesting to know if F55 buyers would have chosen the F56 or gone elsewhere if the new 5-door had not been available.</p>
<p>Speaking for myself, I woulda gone elsewhere or waited for the F54.</p>
<p>Probably the Countryman, judging by its fall in sales. It was always anticipated that F55 would have an impact on R60 sales.</p>
<p>I ordered my F56 S Cooper at end of February. It’s at the VDC currently. Should be at my dealer in about 5-12 days. I’d be curious to see a graphic on sales for years 2002 to current by month. It wouldn’t be an apples to apples comparison but it would still be interesting to see which months sales preformed better than others, especially for the 2 door hard top.</p>
<p>Also, as of last night, the MINI USA configurator no longer has various Mirror caps styles shown in the Accessory section (dealer installed)(such as checkered, Black Jack, etc) they are now Factory installed options. The Gold Jack mirror cap is no longer shown.
Bummer for me. I’m checking with my dealer if they still have the Gold Jack caps.</p>
<p>In just 30 days, a option went from dealer install to now available as factory option. That’s the one thing that bothers me when MINI does that. I could have saved $$$ on dealer installation/labor and local taxes. It would have been nice for MINI or dealer to let me about the change when I placed my order. Or give insiders such as motoringfile (or other MINI blog sites) a heads up about the change.</p>
<p>Go to eBay.com type in mini cooper s gold blackjack mirror caps, I saw a pair for 2014 and up for 159.00</p>
<p>Yes I’ve seen that. Per the post on e-bay, the buyer has to provide the VIN number (last 4 or 5 digits). Not sure I want to do that.</p>
<p>“IN JUST 13 YEARS a option went from dealer install to now available as factory option.”</p>
<p>FTFY</p>
<p>BTW, love the rendering. Amazing what a nice set of wheels (I know, I know they’d be 20″ in real life) and reduced wheel gap will do. Oh, and you can’t see the enormous tail lights.</p>
<p>Was going to make a similar comment on the excellent rendering. Less front/rear overhang, smoother rear hatch profile, better overall proportions (exagerated wheels aside).</p>
<p>Interesting that the rendering is dated 2013, long after the actual F56 was approved.</p>
<p>I really like putting those up as well. Expect to see more of that in the future.</p>
<p>Probably deserved at least a mention in here that MINI sales are only up so much in March 2015 because they were down so much in March 2014. What’s interesting is that MINI sales are actually -down- 4% if you compare March 2015 with March 2013 … no doubt because of the Clubman refresh.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/2014/04/01/mini-usa-sales-down-40-for-march-while-waiting-for-f56/" rel="ugc">https://www.motoringfile.com/2014/04/01/mini-usa-sales-down-40-for-march-while-waiting-for-f56/</a></p>
<p>Anywhooo… maybe MF has mentioned this before and I just missed it, but I’ll be helping out the May numbers because MINI has finally added a “Sport Seat Delete” option when configuring a Cooper S (huzzah!!). This past Monday I put my money where my mouth has been. =)</p>
<p>We actually mentioned this for January and February so we made the decision not to talk about it again for two reasons: at this point it’s a given and because there are high chances this might be the case for all of 2015. Let’s see how next month results turn out to be :)</p>
<p>Question, why would a sport seat delete be wanted on an S? I test drove the Base F56 with regular seats and I didn’t care for them. The Sports Seats are much more comfortable. I’m not that big a fan of the thigh extender (uncomfortable gap under leg when extended) but I don’t need it extended so it works OK for me.</p>
<p>I’m not a fan of the sport seats because I’m fat and the bolstering is too aggressive for my body type. (I had lounge leather in my R56 S, and those seats were awesome.)</p>
<p>My not-fat girlfriend was not a fan of them because she didn’t like how the bolsters prevented her from resting her arms at her sides in the passenger seat. (I assume this would’ve been a non-issue if she were driving and had her hands on the wheel… but it was a comfort issue as a passenger.)</p>
<p>It still sucks that there’s not a “nicer” seat option for large folks than the basic seat. You don’t even get an choice of upholstery; leatherette’s all there is. But a basic alternative is better than no alternative.</p>
<p>Fishbert, didn’t mean to pry into your physical size. Just wondered why Standard vs Sport seat.</p>
<p>I like the leatherette. Too bad no more all leather on Punch Black, they now have a felt/cloth side area. I see a wear issue with that. I know people who live in hot and humid areas (or very cold) don’t care for leather or leatherette, but I have never liked cloth seats. Too difficult to keep clean.</p>
<p>I found the standard seats to not have enough padding/material. Not as cushy in the seating area. I did like the feel of the seats (sport) in Leatherette/Cloth: Black Pearl. Just not a fan of cloth.</p>
<p>I can see where the larger side bolsters on sports seats can be uncomfortable for large size bodies. I’m not a fan of the thigh extension because when extended the open/gap area is very uncomfortable under the thigh. Luckily I won’t need to extend. I guess it’s good for tall people.</p>
<p>Oh no, didn’t think you were prying at all.</p>
<p>Perhaps I’ll be regretting my seat decision down the road (I hear the 2015 sport seats got a little wider?) … I tried the basic seat a number of months ago and didn’t notice any padding issues, but when I went to the dealer last week just before placing my order, they didn’t have anything but sport seats so I couldn’t compare again.</p>
<p>You bring up the thigh support, and that’s another concern of mine with the sport seats … the gap seems like it’d be a debris magnet that would be really hard to keep clean.</p>
<p>Never thought about the potential debris “magnet” in thigh extend gap. Hmmm. I’ll have to watch that. Don’t know if the 2015 sports seats are wider (over the 2014 version). I test drove Base and S in Basic and sport seat in Feb this year, I have no comparison to 2014.</p>
<p>I’ll find out what the sports seats are like long term when I take delivery of my new F56 S in the next couple of weeks.</p>