MINI promises to bounce back after tough year

Cooper sales are down and the Countryman's not firing
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The BMW-owned MINI-brand says it will bounce back after a tough first half of 2011.

In the wake of new competition – namely the Audi A1 – sales of the Cooper hatch are down by 23 per cent and demand for the Cooper Cabrio has halved in the first seven months of this year.

But the recent introduction of the cut-price $27,850 MINI Ray model – which is powered by the old 72kW 1.6 engine jointly developed with Peugeot and Citroen, not the new BMW-designed 90kW 1.6 released earlier this year in dearer Cooper models – has helped turn the tide.

Cooper sales were up 8 per cent in June and 53 per cent in July compared with the same months last year.

The initial shipment of 300 MINI Ray models has all-but sold out and BMW has ordered another 300 of them.

"At that price point it's proving extremely popular. We've just secured another batch which we expect to go just as fast," said BMW Australia spokesman Piers Scott.

But BMW concedes that the Audi A1 has dented MINI sales. The A1 has outsold the Cooper so far this year in its first seven months of this year – and overall MINI sales are down 9.7 per cent despite the addition of a third model, the Countryman SUV.

"It would be naive to suggest [the Audi A1] has had no impact at all. But the reality is it's a very different customer base," BMW spokesman Piers Scott told motoring.com.au

"The A1 customer is a far more pragmatic rational purchasing decision-maker who … is probably already on the Audi-Volkswagen database and has an affinity to that particular brand.

"The MINI customer is … [someone] who buys into a lifestyle and a brand first and foremost and for that reason I don't think there's an enormous amount of crossover.

"We've had a car in the marketplace for 10 years now with a relatively minor change between first and second generations, and as the brand diversifies we're looking for a considerable uplift in volume from the new models that we're bringing on board."

In the next 12 months MINI will introduce the two-seater coupe version of the Cooper.

Meanwhile, BMW Australia is at a loss as to why the four-door Countryman SUV is not selling as well as expected, retailing at less than one-third the rate of the Cooper hatch.

"Cars like Countryman have added enormous volume growth in other countries but it hasn't flown here yet," said Scott.

"The compact SUV segment is where you're seeing the greatest proliferation of new models and the greatest uplift in demand … so the Countryman has a pretty tough competitive set here.

"We are looking at the value proposition with Countryman at the moment and there might be room to offer a bit more value.

"There's also a bit of work to be done to … educate the Australian market place about the journey that MINI is on. It's a brand that's diversifying from being just one car.

"Awareness is our biggest challenge for Countryman. The primary feedback from dealers is that people don't realise how big it is.

"From the stand-alone photography, people say it looks like a four-door MINI. But it's only when they stand up next to one do they get an appreciation for the size.

"I would say the coming 12 months is the period to judge [MINI] on. We launched Countryman very late in the year with very low production, it's really only finding its feet now."

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