Jump to content
Create New...
  • 🚗 Your People Are Here. Get In.

    The internet is full of car content. This is the community.

    Cheers & Gears has been bringing enthusiasts together since 2001. Join the conversation, show off your garage, and find your people.

  • William Maley
    William Maley

    Mini May Allow Their Stand Alone Dealers To Move In with BMW

      But not every Mini dealer has a BMW dealer

    Mini has been struggling in the U.S. for the past few as more consumers shun small cars. The brand which expected annual sales to total 100,000 vehicles by 2017, peaked at about 66,500 models in 2013 according to Automotive News. Sales through the first ten months of the years have totaled 37,359. This isn't good news for the 127 standalone Mini dealers in the U.S. as it makes it tough for owners to justify the investment. In 2016, 45 percent of Mini dealers reported being unprofitable. A year later, that number rose to 54 percent.

    "As a dealer and a manufacturer you have a vision of where the brand is going, and you have to prepare for it. In this case, the vision now isn't what it was when some of these stores were built," explained Jason Willis, a member of the Mini National Dealer Council and general manager of fixed operations at Willis Auto Campus in Des Moines, Iowa.

    Mini's parent company, BMW is considering various options to help improve profitability. One of the options on the table is allowing dealers to integrate Mini into their BMW stores. To make sure the brands stand apart, Mini is looking into having a separate showroom with dedicated employees for sales and service.

    "We've given a lot of flexibility for the dealers to present ideas. This is to help make sure that, until our next wave of product, and the market becomes more favorable, our dealers each remain a strong and going concern," said Thomas Felbermair, vice president of Mini Region Americas.

    But there comes an issue with this idea. Mini has 31 dealers that don't have a BMW dealership that they can integrate into. A spokesman for Mini said they "are looking at additional forms of support for stores that remain fully exclusive," but didn't expand into how they plan on doing that.

    Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    57 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

    No need to have Mini in the USA.  It belongs in Europe.  Nobody here likes small cars.

    Let me correct that for you, a very small select group of people like mini. The majority of Americans want something much bigger.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Support Independent Automotive Journalism

    25 years of honest automotive coverage — because someone has to do it.

    Cheers & Gears has never been filtered by manufacturer relationships or driven by algorithm. Just real people, real opinions, and a genuine love of cars. Subscribers keep the lights on and get an ad-light experience starting at $2.25/month.*

    View subscription options

    *A small number of ads feature member-exclusive coupon deals and will still appear.

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • It really depends on how you're using it.  That Fiat has a really short range and a pretty slow charge speed. It's not for traveling like you do, it's for runs to the store in a city.  On the other end, something longer range 300+ miles like a Tesla, or some of the GMs and Hyundai/Kias, they make great touring vehicles.  Just look for a charging spot near your destination or most highways in the US have rapid charging now.   Now, public charging is usually not cheaper per mile than gas. If you're doing is to save money, an EV and relying solely on public charging nets out to the same as a similarly size gasoline vehicle, but no worse. It's pretty much just equal on fueling costs.  The EV pulls ahead slightly on maintenance costs, but probably not enough to justify a purchase in either direction.(*this is assuming US electric and gasoline prices, I don't know how the numbers shake out in the EU) One of the areas that don't see talked about much is convenience.  If you're in an area where you can charge at home and have decent public charger access, the convenience of EVs can't be beat. Just this week I had to go on a 200 mile round trip business trip. The night before I was so tired coming home I didn't stop to fill up the truck. If I had an electric, it wouldn't have mattered, but because it's gas, I had to budget extra time for stopping .  If it was a Silverado EV I could have made the trip twice on a single charge. Even a Chevy Bolt would have gotten up and back no problem without stopping.  What I'm getting at is that the range anxiety is a lot more overblown these days than it should be.  We're not all doing cannonball runs. We stop for food, bathroom, whatever. You can charge at most Walmarts and many grocery stores now while you shop. The only time I ever had to worry about range is when I return a rental car and they want it above a certain range before I return it.  
    • Dang, there are no ZDX within 200 miles of me and when I jump to 300 miles, they're more like 34-40k still...  Do you guys have a link to read more on this Costco discount? 
    • When people talk about electric vehicles and how they might fare for others, the other person's context needs to come into view. Last summer, I was driving through a beachside town on the Adriatic coast in Central Italy.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing, so I had to pull over and take a photo  This is evidently an electrified Fiat.  I don't know what this person's parking situation is, but it looks like they've got it parked on a narrow apron, are blocking the sidewalk, and the electricity is being borrowed from somewhere inside the house through a long cord. Unless a person in Italy has a detached home that has a garage or is in a condo tower that has garages at its base, they may not have a real tidy solution for electrifying the car while it's parked and they aren't doing something else or are sleeping.  A person could be in the exact same situation in the United States and Canada.   If you've got an EV and have a garage or carport, you can charge it as needed nightly if there are outlets available.  A friend of mine who lives in a Southern California suburb and has an 1,800 square foot house with a two car garage has 2 Teslas being charged while parked in the garage.  The same could be true in a personal garage somewhere in Europe.  But without the garage situation established and a vehicle yet to be decided on ... and if it looks anything like the above photo ... I don't expect to be buying an electric car this next time. 
    • I couldn't believe this.  Why was the truck even moving into an active runway or taxiway?  This is very sad and they gave some background on the two pilots who lost their lives, both of whom were fairly young and had their lives ahead of them.
  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • My Clubs

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search