Brecht MINI in San Diego

[jwilk]

Finally heard back from Brecht MINI. Not open yet. They will not take orders period. Will get in fully speced cars and sell them. No customer orders at all. Also seemed very apathetic.

[sdmidget]

So much for a "nice" "local" dealer for the San Diego area members of MINI2

[Coati]

I can only hope that their service policies are friendlier. Otherwise we'll be driving up to Irvine or Long Beach for maintenance.







Don't think I won't do it.

[Vanwall]

OK, San Diego owners, as I was driving back from Long Beach MINI Saturday - where I had some minor service done, I went by the Brecht MINI dealership just for a look-see, and hey, there was a "Brecht MINI" sign on the building, a silver S out front, and I took a chance to see if there would be a few Brecht folk about. Yessiree.

I talked to John, who informed me the opening day for them is Friday, June 28th. They have been thru the wringer just getting their dealership open, lost all their allocation up to this point, and generally have been scrambling to make headway. The physical plant is a nice, new, large showroom, plenty of parking and they plan on service bays at that site in the near future. Right now the service will be done at the BMW bays up the road, but they are pretty much ready to go. The new show-room floor was being polished when I got there, and every one was bustling about. DMV walk-thru and approval is very near.

John was sorry they hadn't been able to open on time, but evidently BMW demanded larger floor space than Brecht had originally been led to believe. They had to find a new lot, near the Autopark section of Escondido, for whatever price, as soon as possible. For those of you who don't know Southern California, a commercial spot like that must have cost a pretty penny. Then they started from scratch, and since there was no place to put 'em, ALL their MINI's went to other So Cal Dealers. That's possibly why some of us have lucked out on available cars.

I was wondering how Brecht, normally a pretty savvy outfit, missed the boat. They may have missed the sailing, but they're on the pilot boat catching up.

Now the bad news, of sorts. Brecht is going to sell MINIs as they come in, with possible dealer add-ons, and almost assuredly a mark-up. No list sales for now. When the 2003 models become available, they will start looking at some sort of list, and will only then begin taking orders like all the rest. Good luck getting anything B4 next summer, I say, but hey you never know.

I took a coupla pics, and I'll stick 'em on the Member's page. First look at Brecht's first cars.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

[ches]

I read somewhere (roadfly?) that Cunningham was a "proposed" future dealership, whatever that means. I haven't spoken with anyone at Cunningham about this though.
Has anyone else heard anything about this?

[jwilk]

Brecht opened today. They had quite a few 'S' cars on the lot. However they had a mandatory dealer package that included wheels, lojack, paint protection and floor mats, about $3500 package. They also have a 10% dealer markup. Take Brecht off your dealer MSRP list.

[Coati1]

Thanks, I feel better about ordering our MINI from out of state.

[Vanwall]

Stopped by Brecht MINI 7/13 while I was picking up a new A-pillar cover, ( more on that later - their parts folks are efficient & helpful ), just to see wot's up. They are now taking deposits for MINIs, $1,000.00, and they tell you right off the "market adjustment" is 10% on Coopers and 15% on S's, with various "required" dealer add-ons.

What a crock. EVERY MINI is a guaranteed sale, so there's no need for all this extra profit other than pure greed. BMW better get their dealers on the right track. Maybe it's too tempting to stick it to the customer, but let's face it, the MINI is still the LOW end car at BMW.

Most Dealers don't care to understand the market they could have, just the market with the lowest pockets. They seem to want the Yuppified free-spender that really just wants a novelty car....for a while. BMW may be building a future customer base for up-market Bimmers, but they could easily be building a long-term MINI customer base.

$17-18 G's is a fantastic deal for what you get in a MINI - just think how many MINIs BMW would be selling in the future in the States if they had more control over the dealer behaviour. VW, Toyota & Honda all learned how you can be marginalized very quickly in the US unless you put some effort into basic customer relations. And I don't mean at the regular BMW level, I mean even more basic. Don't get greedy, it's as simple as that. They have a superior product that would easily sell itself....except the greedy guys out there are gonna eff it up, I'm very much afraid.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

[erazo]

I got a call from Brecht yesterday...I guess when I called them back in April I asked to be put on their interest list. It was nice of the salesman (excuse me, motoring advisor) to call me back.

There is obviously a strategy involved in those markups, and I think 'greed' may be somewhat simplistic. They're in business to do business and stay in business. They sunk a lot of money into their new showroom, and I don't know the full story behind MINI USA's rejection of the first showroom after it had already been built. Nor do I know how much was lost and how those losses can be recovered. Alienating a few customers may work, but alienating a lot of customers along with the BMW bigwigs won't.

If the market response to this strategy is lukewarm, look for the markups to ease off a bit.

[Vanwall]

I think the story about the showroom is a sad, but true story. However, ALL the MINI dealers had capital investments for the start-up - some undoubtedly spending a fair amount. Not all are sticking on the market adjustment or dealer options. Long Beach, among others, doesn't ask for a deposit - 'cause it's a sure thing. Don't look to Brecht & the others to drop the greed factor anytime soon.

My biggest beef is the dealers who gouge aren't exactly going to make BMW happy - there's anecdotal evidence that BMW finds ways to manipulate allotments down for those kind of dealers - AND they aren't going to make the GENERAL car buying public willing to buy a small car that they can see the MSRP is fairly low, but the mark-ups are high. MINI will succeed for the long term only by converting the Honda, Toyota, & other econo-box owners into MINI owners. Niche cars don't last here - ask Renault or Fiat. I want the MINI to become a permanant fixture here in the States, not a transitory bump in the road.

BMW is vulnerable as well, they don't have a starter car other than the MINI. Some big boy is going to suck them up and "streamline" 'em, I'm afraid. The MINI is their first real chance to become a full-line car maker.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

[ches]

On a not-really-related note, I had read on some bmw site that Cunningham was a "proposed" dealer so I went to their website and filled out the little webform and inquired whether there was any truth to this rumor.

About two hours later I got a really nice call from one of the sales managers. He knew that he wasn't going to make a sale but was willing to chat for several minutes anyway.

Apparently there is some mystery (and perhaps some politics) in how MINI dealerships are awarded, at least in the US. He said that Cunningham would love to open a MINI dealership and had applied, but to the best of his knowledge it wasn't in the immediate works. "Maybe in 2003/2004" he said hopefully.

He asked lots of questions about the Cooper S, how I liked it, etc. He asked if I knew whether buying a MINI entitled you to join the BMW club. I wasn't sure what he meant, but apparently among other things the club sets up an autocross at the Q every few months. The next one is the 27th, but I'm going to be in Mexico that weekend. I guess they set up a course, and have instructors there and do the whole autocross thing. Sounded kind of interesting.

We talked a bit about the service intervals. Cunningham is only a few miles from where I live, but I guess I'll have to make the trek to Escondido or OC (or Vegas!) in Oct/Nov, which is my projected 10k mile date.

I can't speak for the rest of the folks at Cunningham, but this guy seemed pretty cool.

[erazo]

BMW will introduce the 1 Series in 2004, to be "slotted between the MINI and 3 Series in the lineup" according to Motor Trend. Production of the 1 Series will apparently be sufficient to allow all 300+ BMW dealers in the USA to sell them (without having to re-franchise), which is not the case for the MINI. This would make the 1 the true "entry level BMW", leaving the MINI an unassigned role in BMW's marketing strategy.

Given this scenario, it's intriguing to speculate whether BMW plans to boost MINI production sufficiently to increase the number of franchises beyond the 70 announced.

[jwilk]

ches wrote

Quote:

I can't speak for the rest of the folks at Cunningham, but this guy seemed pretty cool.

I was hoping Cunningham were going to be a dealer early on. They have a very good motorsports section. Yes with a MINI you can join BMWCCA. I think it allows you 15% discount on parts.

[Coati1]

Quote:

Originally posted by jwilk
ches wrote

I was hoping Cunningham were going to be a dealer early on. They have a very good motorsports section. Yes with a MINI you can join BMWCCA. I think it allows you 15% discount on parts.

So maybe I should wait for the membership to take effect before having a dealer put in rally lights and a CD changer?