Good News for MINI in October Sales Numbers
Yes, total monthly year-on-year sales did drop 3.3%. But this is for a month where total US light vehicle sales dropped 4.7% (Probably more, but Ford has delayed reporting due to a fire in corporate HQ on Monday.) Not only that, but in Matt’s MINI Index, MINI placed second, only behind Subaru! And this was in a month that had two less sales days than October 2015.
Looking more deeply into the numbers, there is no doubt that the new Clubman is doing well. Total 4-door sales grew to 2,741 units from 2,237 compared to October last year. While the MINI purists lament the increase in footprint of the latest offerings, the numbers don’t lie: The larger vehicles have greater market appeal.
Looking more closely at the competition, MINI’s numbers don’t look bad at all. The consumer love-affair with Scion seems to be over as inventory becomes scarce. Smart USA offerings just don’t really appeal to the US buyer market. Fiat and VW both continue to hemorrhage sales. Mazda makes very compelling vehicles, but they don’t seem to command buyer attention and dollars. Any of these brands would be much happier with only a 3.3% monthly year-on-year decline. But all of this comes with a grain of salt: MINI sales seem to be stabilizing here in the US, but at a lower total volume than last year. MINI is holding it’s own, but as a slightly smaller company than it was last year.
Official News:Woodcliff Lake, NJ – November 1, 2016…
MINI Brand Sales
For October, MINI USA reported 3,954 automobiles sold, a decrease of 3.3 percent from the 4,087 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA reported a total of 42,865 automobiles sold, a decrease of 12.6 percent from 49,061 automobiles sold in the first ten months of 2015.
MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles
- In October, sales of MINI Certified Pre-Owned set an October record with 1,016 vehicles, an increase of 1.7 percent from October 2015.
- Total MINI Pre-Owned sales also set an October record with 2,457 vehicles in October 2016, an increase of 9.3 percent from October 2015.
- Total MINI Pre-Owned sales year-to-date were 23,760, a 5.2 percent increase from the first ten months of 2015.
<p>The R60 Countryman has consistently been – throughout its six years life – the second best selling MINI, globally and in the US. Remarkably, despite being long in the tooth, the Countryman was the BEST selling MINI in the US, in the first ten months of 2016.</p>
<p>MINI USA SALES YTD 2016</p>
<p>R60 Countryman – 10,986
F55 Hardtop – 9,601
F56 Hardtop – 9,288
F54 Clubman – 9,148
F57 Convertible – 3,751 (7 months)
R61 Paceman – 79</p>
<p>BMW GROUP USA, is a mini microcosm of what is happening overall in the US auto industry in 2016. What’s more, look at the sales of the new X1, up more than 350% in October, and 92% YTD. A front-wheel-drive BMW pulling in the punters in the US!</p>
<p>So, waiting in the wings ready to enter stage right in 2017, is the all new, and highly desirable, F60 Countryman, a lower priced sister car to the X1. The F60 is the trump card in MINI’s pack, and the car that will make MINI USA sales great again :)</p>
<p>Ok fair enough. Consumers want bigger cars and that includes MINIs. I don’t like it but there it is. However, other brands who simply keep growing each model with every generation they don’t have the name MINI. How many more generations of growth before that name just becomes a joke? I think it’s almost there but I admit I seem to be in the minority.</p>
<p>I have some sympathy with your sentiments regarding smaller MINIs. Before buying our Countryman, we owned two R55 Clubmans in succession. We would have preferred the new F54 Clubman to have been based on the shorter and narrower F55 platform, but we accept that a viable business case could never have been made for that. Upscaling the Clubman from ‘B’ to ‘C’ segment, was a shrewd business move.</p>
<p>I’m in the minority with you Ulrichd. My only hope is that with the anticipated success of the new bigger Countryman, and continued success of the larger Clubman, BMW will have the extra cash, as well as the desire to invest in a great small mini, whether it be a variant of the Rocketman or a slightly smaller variant of the F56, but with better styling, getting back to the R56 proprotions. I don’t know if the UKL 1 platform can be shortened, or if a new platform would be required for that. A new dedicated platform is almost certainly a deal killer. I still hold out hope for a new mini MINI though. That would at least allow MINI, as a brand to retain some small car credibility</p>
<p>I think your spot on.</p>
<p>Thanx Gabe. I know you have a lot going on but a comparo chart between new countryman, X1, VW alltrac, Tiguan, Golf, old countryman, new clubman and maybe Honda HRV would be great. Length, width, height, GVW–the basic “size” parameters. You provided it when the new Clubman came out and it really put the new vehicle in perspective. If you or another industrious reader can put something together that would be great</p>
<p>MINI hasn’t released the schematics to my knowledge. If you see them let me know.</p>
<p>BMW has previously confirmed that the UKL1 platform cannot be made any shorter, and that a new platform, co-developed with another car maker, is the only viable way forward.</p>
<p>It is still hoped that the partnership deal with Toyota, co-developing the platform to underpin the BMW Z5 and Toyota Supra, will be extended to include a small premium city car platform.</p>
<p>I guess the talks with Toyota about platform sharing for a smaller model were not successful.</p>
<p>“My only hope is that with the anticipated success of the new bigger Countryman, and continued success of the larger Clubman, BMW will have the extra cash, as well as the desire to invest in a great small mini”</p>
<p>How awesome would it have been if the success of the larger 4-door models gave BMW the cash to keep the Roadster around?</p>
<p>I had an F54 Clubman as a loaner for about a week recently when my F56 was in for a new engine (for free … thank you, crankshaft bearing TSB). To me it suffers from the same problem as the 4/5-door F55 and the old R60 Countryman (and likely the new F60 Countryman): the door opening isn’t long enough to comfortably get in and out if you’re tall and have the seat pushed back very far.</p>
<p>You’re constantly having to maneuver yourself around the B-pillar for ingress/egress and if you get too close when trying to sit down, the rubber door seal can grab your shirt and pull it out of your pants. Also, having the B-pillar so far forward means it’s right there at your shoulder, reducing visibility when trying to shoulder-check your driver-side blind spot.</p>
<p>Thank god for the 2-door F56… if they ever get rid of that model (as was spitballed on a recent WRR podcast, due to sales figures) or bring the B-pillar forward like those other models, it would just kill MINI as an option for me.</p>
<p>So what your saying is that they should make the clubman bigger…….cause your tall………ummmmmmm no thanks.</p>
<p>Not necessarily. I rather liked the suicide door design of the R54 Clubman (or BMW i3, for that matter). That’s just one non-lengthening alternative to moving the B-pillar forward on the driver, I’m sure the professional designers at MINI could come up with others if that was a goal of theirs.</p>
<p>Further to Toyota’s complete takeover of Daihatsu in January this year, Toyota and Suzuki have announced the precursor to a partnership that will allow the two Japanese car makers to co-develop small vehicles. A joint statement said: “With its primary focus on small vehicles, Suzuki has been consistently refining its technologies so as to develop vehicles with high price competitiveness”.</p>
<p>Speaking about the deal, Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, said: “As the environment which surrounds the automobile industry has been changing drastically, we need to have the ability to respond to changes in order to survive. In addition to the R&D which each company is working on individually, it is very important now to have partners who share the same goal and passion.”</p>
<p>Akio Toyoda’s closing comment was particularly encouraging for BMW – “We would like to always keep our doors open for new partnership opportunities, which will contribute to the making of ever-better cars as well as to the development of the automotive industry”.</p>