Mini says increased demand for new three and five-door Mini and foreordained plans are bringing production of the Coupe and Roadster to an end.
Also, it turns out people didn’t want less practical versions of a car that already lacked a certain degree of flexibility.
Surely Mini would have thought twice about cancelling production of the two cars – or at least considered replacing them with new versions off the new Mini platform – had sales been strong.
Americans have registered only 6679 Mini Roadsters since the two-seat convertible arrived in 2012. Roadster volume jumped 18% in 2013, the first full year for the car, but 2014 sales plunged 49%. Only 65 were sold in January 2015, which actually represented a 12% uptick compared with January 2014.
The helmet-wearing Coupe, which went on sale in 2011, attracted 7351 U.S. owners through the end of January 2015. (Few Coupes are left; only 22 were sold last month.) Coupe sales jumped to a high of 2880 units in 2012, the car’s first full year, but slipped 12% in 2013 and plunged 62% in 2014.
But the Coupe and Roadster were never integral parts of the Mini USA lineup. Together, they generated just 8% of the brand’s volume in 2012 and 2013; just 4% in 2014.
Mini now turns its focus to its core models: the three-door Hardtop, the Countryman, and the new five-door model. Mini’s U.S. sales jumped 27% in January as the Hardtops generated two-thirds of the brand’s volume and the Countryman, though down 31%, brought in 23% of buyers. For every Clubman, Convertible, Coupe, and Roadster sold in January, Mini USA sold nine conventional Hardtop models.
While Mini continues to be a relatively small part of BMW USA’s portfolio, generating less than half the sales of the 3-Series/4-Series lineup in January, Mini’s home market is very keen. 22% of the BMW Group’s UK volume was Mini-derived in January. Mini owned 1.4% of the overall market (0.3% in the U.S.; 0.2% in Canada) and the brand ranked 21st overall, behind Mazda, Renault, and Volvo, but ahead of Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Dacia, Lexus, Jaguar, Porsche, Jeep, and Alfa Romeo.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures.
Yeah the coupe was an odd little duck thought I have seen a decent number of roadsters here in the Desert Southwest but then convertible ownership has always been higher out here.
You don’t like it’s weird little backward baseball cap roofline?
These very much struck me as “What can we do for the next few years until the new platform arrives” sort of models. I doubt they ever expected to sell very many. The goal was probably to sell enough to recover the (small) development costs while keeping the company visible in the media.
I figured they were part of BMW’s recent “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach to model development.
This!
I could justify the Roadster but the Coupe? The Paceman made more sense…and that’s speaking volumes.
We won’t miss the Suzuki X90… sorry! I meant the Mini Roadster lol!
Oh is that what it is? I thought that MINI looked like a mushroom head. Or some big, fat Kaiser arse had sat on it and squished it.
Honestly, I’m surprised to learn that the coupe I saw driving around town wasn’t an ill-fated attempt at customizing.
This +100
Wow, that is an unfortunate looking little vehicle.
Kinda reminds me of those Geo metro convertibles from back in the day….I always felt sad seeing someone driving those too.
Former neighbor had a Mini coupe. I actually thought in person it was a hard top convertible due to the weird lines on the top (and then wondered where the Hell the power roof folded into). His was a nice color scheme, it kind of worked. Only one I’ve ever seen in the wild. He loves it. He’s a bit of a strange fellow, his other half? Man, she is a total piece of work, feel sorry for the guy in that department.
Thanks for explaining – I saw the first pic and thought it had a PRHT.
Surely there must be a way to blame the chicken tax and CAFE for this.
OK, maybe not.
This is the disadvantage of niche branding when the niche is inherently limited. The MINI is so narrowly defined that it is hard to do much with it beyond a couple of models. It seems that BMW would benefit from having another mainstream brand that could be paired up with it.
(Yes, this is my cue for the Bavarians to call the guys as Mazda. A marriage might take time, but perhaps you could start dating.)
that actually is a good idea.. Mazda as a cheaper FWD BMW, which is what Mazda kind of is.
I believe they still own the rights to Triumph (cars), Riley, Austin, Healey, Morris, and Wolseley. No need to merge with Mazda.
Triumph and Riley is still with BMW, but I think the rest is currently with SAIC.
Too bad, if BMW initially used the Austin brand (with a car model Mini), they could’ve expanded the lineup much easier without cornering itself into a niche.
Well at least you can still buy a sporting Triumph, as long as you don’t mind it only having two wheels.
You can’t buy a MG or Austin-Healey anything!
I thought Mazda was already dating Alfa Romeo, and that BMW was dating Toyota? Before Mini’s second coming, I dreamt that BMW would absorb SAAB for some quirky FWD spawn…
Automakers aren’t known for their monogamy.
Likewise, many of them truly enjoy scr*wing their customers.
Problem is, this never seemed any more stylish than the regular Mini (by virtue of the standard hatchback not trying so hard), and yeah, gave up the vestigial back seat. I don’t imagine the Coupe weighed significantly less either, so yeah, kind of hard to justify, especially at the prices Minis start commanding once you pile the options on.
Huge trunk for a two-seater though.
Ford tried this recipe, it was called the Escort EXP, and it didn’t sell worth a damn either. Very few cars are dramatically improved by summarily deleting the back seat…
BMW is more like Samsung than Apple – too many model and not enough focus. One thing that Apple will not do is come up with 13 different models and answers to the questions nobody asked.
Guy at my office has a black Coupe, white roof, lowered, on BBS wheels clad with Star Specs and with red-painted 4-piston calipers in front. Looks the business, to be honest. Not something I’d buy for myself, but a cool little runabout.
Good riddance to the backwards baseball cap roof line. I always though the 2 seat Minis were a blatant ripoff charging more money for less car. This doesn’t stop my wife from loving the colored LED mood lighting in the Countryman and Clubman, although she’s more likely to get an F150 than a Mini these days.