MINI USA Sales Up 1.8% in May 2015 (UPDATED)

During AMVIV last week we had a chance to chat with MINI USA’s Vice President, David Duncan. While our conversation was “off the record,” we came away with the feeling that the great team at MINI is right on track in regards to their sales forecast for 2015. Today, the US subsidiary of MINI announced a 1.8% increase in cars sold in May 2015 compared to the same month last year. And the big news? The four door F55 almost became the brand’s top seller.
As you can see from the chart below, MINI sales in the US are not back to 2013 levels, but they are very close and following a similar trend. Last month, we learned that 2-door and 4-door sales were the main drivers behind MINI’s performance and this dynamic continued last month. Talking with a number of Motoring Advisors across the Nation, it seems that that 4-door is especially in high-demand. Prospective buyers have been asking for a bigger MINI and they are putting their money where their mouth is. Overall, the Hardtop makes 57% of all MINI sales, followed by the Countryman at 30%. The only surprise in these figures is the Paceman; it has achieved its second best sales record in 18 months with 251 units sold.
When the Clubman comes out later this year, half of the line-up will have switched over to the UKL platform. By then, it’ll be interesting to see if new heights in sales will be attained given that just two FXX models currently pull more than half of all MINI USA sales.
14 Comments
<p><blockquote>We’ve reached to MINI for breakdown by model</blockquote></p>
<p>Already public on the web: <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bmw-group-us-reports-may-2015-sales-300092770.html" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bmw-group-us-reports-may-2015-sales-300092770.html</a></p>
<p>F56 sales DOWN 23%, cannibalized by the 4-door F55, which will become MINIUSA’s top seller by next month. The brand is not so mini any more.</p>
<p>Yup, the masses have spoken and they want bigger MINIs. I think it’s a shame but there it is. I will still show up here every day looking for news of the Rocketman. Sadly, based on what I have read recently it’s not looking good.</p>
<p>I don’t know. Talk about a Rorschach test. Pretty much critic and supporter alike can make their respective arguments from these numbers. Particularly the F56’s performance, given its solid footing finally.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip!</p>
<p>With both the F56 & Countryman down about 23% from 2014 to 2015, it appears both those models lost their sales to the new F55 which has closed dramatically to a close third behind the other two. Maybe the F55 is a good fit between the 2 door which has a tight rear seat access/room & the larger 4 door Countryman. F55 owners still wanted the small MINI like the F56 but wanted the usability of a 4 door without going to the larger Countryman. I’m one of those happy owners with an F55S.</p>
<p>Pretty hard to comprehend your meaning “Countryman is rapidly fading away”, when Countryman sales still exceed the 2 door or 4 door</p>
<p>At the time of the comment, we didn’t have the breakdown by model. It was based on what we’ve seen since the beginning of the year (i.e. Hardtop sales taking over Countryman sales + aging model).</p>
<p>The Countryman also didn’t get much of an LCI refresh. Other than the bar in the grille of the S and JCW enthusiasts would be hard pressed to tell them apart from the pre-LCI cars and non-enthusiasts certainly won’t be able to regardless.</p>
<p>Too bad there is no breakdown by state/region. Where I am, which has historically been a strong MINI market (I saw 2 Roadsters, of all things, just yesterday), F56s are becoming quite common (in Volcanic Orange, no less), but F55s like mine still seem thin on the roads. Maybe F55 sales are growing in less MINI-friendly markets.</p>
<p>In the San Francisco Bay Area (at least on the peninsula side) seen very few (hardly any) F55’s (maybe 3). Lots of F56’s in both in Base and S (more Base).</p>
<p>The one thing I have been seeing is lots of RXX, both 1st Gen and 2nd Gen. I’ve never seen this many 1st & 2nd Gen Hatches as in the last 6 to 7 months.</p>
<p>Prior to 2014 if I saw more than 5 to 6 MINI’s in one day, that was a lot. Now either on the Streets or Freeway, it’s not uncommon to see 8 to 10 MINI’s all at once. The other day on the Freeway there were 10 of us going in the same direction within a 1/2 mile of each other. For a moment I thought it was an impromptu club event – LOL.</p>
<p>Seems people are buying used MINI’s. In fact, between 2004 to last year I had only seen maybe 3 Base MINI in Liquid Yellow (1st Gen). In the last 2 months I’ve seen 5 or 6. Where did they all come from? – lol</p>
<p>Haven’t seen any Paceman, a few Countryman. A good number or clubman, a few convertibles and surprisingly about 6 Coupe’s in the last month.</p>
<p>VO, the best color there is 😉 lol</p>
<blockquote>
<p>F56s are becoming quite common, but F55s like mine still seem thin on the roads.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A year’s worth of F56s vs 1-2 months’ worth of F55s?
Yeah, not surprised.</p>
<p>I would like to point out that a sizable percentage of the year on year growth can be accounted for by the 47%+ increased sales in the Paceman!</p>
<p>Just saying, you can spin this a lot of ways….</p>
<p>And keep in mind, that the newest member to the fold, the four door, will have pent up demand that gives it a launch bump. We’ll see where the numbers end up.</p>
<p>A bit of a wider view … now with May:</p>