MINI USA August Year-on-Year Sales Up 2.1%
MINI USA sales continued their climb in August, up 2.1% over last August, to 5,109 units. While the August year-on-year growth seems small at only 103 units, it looks much better when one considers that the US Light Vehicle sales numbers were DOWN by 0.6. Unlike BMW that benchmarks against its natural competition (Mercedes-Benz and Audi), MINI has no brand that is as similar in market offerings. FIAT is probably the closest in line-up, and FIAT only grew 0.8%. Subaru, another brand with a very loyal following, was up 4.9%, but they have such a different set of products that it’s hard to make anything of that! The VW division had an awful month, down 8.1%. At least they didn’t do as bad as Scion and Smart who really tanked, down 37% and 53.7% respectively!
Looking at the breakdown of MINI models, the 4-doors grew, even though the Countryman numbers look bad. Oddly, the Twins did more than double last August sales, to a combined total of 478 units. And the current Clubman inventory seems to be almost gone, with just 1 sale registered in the entire month!
Official Release: “Even without Labor Day weekend as part of the month, the solid August results for both BMW and MINI continue to prove the strength of consumer demand and underscore the momentum BMW Group has shown throughout this year,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America.
MINI Brand Sales
For August, MINI USA reports 5,109 automobiles sold, an increase of 2.1 percent from the 5,006 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA sales are 40,560 vehicles, a 16.0 percent increase from the same period last year.
MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles
In August, sales of MINI NEXT (certified pre-owned) were 1,134 vehicles, up 3.5 percent over August 2014, with a year-to-date gain of 25.6 percent to 7,925 cars over the same period in 2014. Total MINI Pre-Owned sales were 2,696 cars, an increase of 5.3 percent from August 2014. Total MINI Pre-Owned sales for the first eight months were 18,205, a 7.0 percent increase from the same period in 2014.
<p>MINI USA SALES – AUGUST 2014 vs AUGUST 2015</p>
<p>Total R55/56 @ 1,790 vs Total F55/56 @ 2,721 = 52.01% Increase
Total All MINIs 2014 @ 5,006 vs 2015 @ 5,109 = 2.10% Increase</p>
<p>MINI USA SALES – YTD 2014 vs YTD 2015</p>
<p>Total R55/56 @ 14,303 vs F55/56 @ 24,724 = 72.86% Increase
Total All MINIs 2014 @ 34,969 vs 2015 @ 40,560 = 15.99% Increase</p>
<p>So far so good</p>
<p>Is it really surprising that an incoming new model is selling better than the outgoing one during the same time last year? Especially considering the fact that there was no R-series 4-door.</p>
<p>F55 replaced R55 on the production line and in the market place. F54 is a ‘C’ segment vehicle aimed at an entirely different customer base.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to see that as the F55 sales have increased, the Countryman sales have dropped by about as much month-to-month.</p>
<p>Guess people weren’t looking for a BIG MINI, so much as a more practical one.</p>
<p>It helps that the F55 is a dramatically better product given the age difference between the two.</p>
<p>I’m sure interior quality has a LITTLE to do with it, but when the Countryman came out everyone started using it stealing tons of Hardtop sales and becoming about their best selling model as evidence that people wanted a much bigger MINI. The F55 isn’t really that much bigger than the F56 (it certainly doesn’t have much more leg room – I think my R55 has more rear leg room than the F55), it just has the extra doors that every other hot hatch has, that everyone apparently wanted.</p>
<p>It’ll be interesting to see what the numbers do after the Countryman gets its refresh…</p>
<p>There is no doubt that F55 has had an impact on the sales of R60. The irony in this is that the launch R60 virtually decimated the sales of R55, but that is only half the story. From the moment that F56 went on sale, every R-series MINI became obsolete overnight. Sales of R60, however, held up well until the launch of F55.</p>
<p>F54 goes on sale in the UK on October 31st, and will almost certainly exacerbated the decline in R60 sales. With hindsight, BMW might have been wiser to launch F60 this year, and F54 next year. F60 shares its longer, wider and taller UKL1 platform,and entire drivetrain, with the all new BMW X1 which goes on sale in mid-October.</p>
<p>The small/medium SUV is the fastest growing automobile sector in the world. Jaguar has just launched its first ever SUV, the F-Pace, which goes on sale early next year, Lotus has given the green light to an SUV, and Nissan has said that its replacement for its 370Z is likely to be a crossover SUV. F60 can’t come soon enough for MINI.</p>
<p>I guess the last gasp for the twins brought out a lot of people looking for a collectible?</p>
<p>I see that too, as clearly 1/3rd of all the sales for the year on both the coupe and the roadster, were this past month. I know that my dealer here in Des Moines doesn’t seem to have any trouble selling the roadster. They always seem to have several, different ones, on the lot. And this is Iowa too, not a beach southern town.</p>