Whether sales of the regular Mini have suffered because potential Cooper buyers have gravitated toward the Countryman or because of the presence of the Fiat 500 or… just because, U.S. Mini sales suffered in 2011.
Wait a second, didn’t Mini report a 14.9% year-over-year increase on January 5? Yes, of course they did. But Mini accomplished that 11,687-unit increase (from 2010’s 45,644) with 17,061 extra sales from models which weren’t present last year. Subtracting the Countryman and Coupe from the equation, sales of Mini’s regular hardtop Cooper, the Convertible, and Clubman were down 11.5%. Worst off was the Convertible, sales of which slid 29.3%. The Clubman was down 18.4%. This means the original Mini – well, not the original original, but you know what I mean – was down just 5.4%.
