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From MINI PR:
Sales of the MINI brand rose in the first seven months to 106,603, an increase of 39.4% in comparison with the same period last year, at 76,471 units. In July, 16,723 vehicles were sold worldwide (+19.0%, previous year 14,056).
The strongest market is still the United Kingdom, with 4,343 units in July (+83.9%, previous year 2,361), followed by the USA with sales of 3,084 vehicles in July (+7.6%, previous year 2,866). Important markets apart from these are Germany, with sales in July of 2,477 vehicles (+5.4%, previous year 2,350) and Italy with 1,972 units (+12.5%, previous year 1,753).
The BMW Group as a whole (BMWs + MINIs) is 1.5% above the previous year's levels. Interestingly BMW's sales are actually lower this year in comparison from last by 1.7%. So what this tells us is that the MINI is indeed a major contributer (as it has been for the past 18 months) to BMW's bottom line and market growth. Pretty amazing for a car that Rover claimed in the early 90's made no business sense.
<p>There is not a single shade of a doubt that this car has been a resounding success for BMW and I am sure that they never expected these astronomical sales per unit increases in the US market.</p>
<p>I hope that BMW continues to sell the car but also to keep an eye on the amount of vehicles sold to prevent the market from flooding (A la VW Beetle) thus affecting resale values, a precious commodity of the MINI Cooper.</p>
<p>I am sure that BMW will recover much of the initial investment costs sunk into the development of the MINI sooner than they ever tought possible.</p>
<p>Great points Frank – as usual. I did hear that MINI is recouping their initial investment much faster and this might be altering the development of the next MINI. </p>
<p>Originally it was reported that BMW was going to cut some corners where and there with the next generation to make it more profitable. In fact that was one fo the reasons that they had planned on a shorter lifespan for the current car. However since they've found that more people are going for cars with higher priced options they've been able to make more profit per vehicle than was expected. </p>
<p>So keep getting those Navigation systems people! It will convince BMW that they can indeed make money on such a well engineered small car.</p>
<p>Despite the 100000+ sales of MINIS worldwide, here in Canada it is almost impossible to see one in a day. Do you know where Canada stands in those rankings?</p>
<p>If memory serves me right, Canada only gets 5K to 10K units out of that 100K worldwide production figures. These cars are truly unique north of the border.</p>
<p>The US gets 25K to 30K vehicles a year out of the 100K worldwide figure.</p>
<p>Frank, thanks so much for the quick reply 😀 great information you've got there.
We're getting our 2004 Mini Cooper in september. Can't wait.</p>
<p>Wow, I was up in Montreal Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and saw 3 Coopers and 1 Cooper S.. I hadn't expected to see any, and was very suprised.</p>
<p>I think I probably average seeing 2-3 a day in and around Chicago.</p>
<p>I just returned from motoring 3500 mi in JoeGreen and saw only 9 in three weeks. Trip was from Springfield to UP Michigan where I saw one in Copper Harbor. Then to lower Michigan where I saw one in an ad for the local pizza delivery .. red MC with their logo on the door. Then on to Cullman AL where I saw another. 5 in 5 days in the Roswell/Alpharetta end of Atlanta. And one in Owensboro KY on the route back to Spfld.</p>
<p>Except for one day on I65 between MI and AL, I traveled the blue and twisty highways. WooooHoooo!!
And had a great time taking the tour of the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green KY.</p>
<p>Living up north of Chicago (very close to 2 MINI dealers), I rarely ever see other MINI's on the road. In the month I have had my MCS, I have only seen about 6-7 other MINI's (and I have not been light traveler in my MCS either).</p>
<p>I was excited when I was able to park next to another MINI at a pizza joint about 2 weeks ago, but I don't see as many as I thought I would…..which is good, I am not complaining =). Cheers!</p>