How Popular is the R56?

[Tone]

Is it selling well?
Is BMW fairly pleased?
How many have you seen?
Hope it's popular,
Anybody know?

[ALD0]

I have started to see a lot on the roads now, I think it will be just as popular as current model...

[NJP]

D**k Lovett in Bristol told me that March was their busiest ever month, so I guess it's selling pretty well, at least in this area.

[Wurzel]

Seen a few on the road but not many.

My local mini dealer has quoted me 1 month if I order a new R56 today which leads me to believe that they are not that popular or mini can make them quicker.

I had to wait 6-7 months for my R53 to arrive due to public demand.

i find it strange that most people I speak to don't even know a new mini has come out. When my mates see a 07 plate they say it's no different to my 55 plate.

I'm sure it will sell just as well as the old one.

[Mooyer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Wurzel (original)

My local mini dealer has quoted me 1 month if I order a new R56 today which leads me to believe that they are not that popular or mini can make them quicker.

I had to wait 6-7 months for my R53 to arrive due to public demand.

I'm sure it will sell just as well as the old one.

Remember the increased capaity at the factory tho

[Lil_Mini]

I have only seen 2 on the road, but was amazed at how Sexy the Dark Silver on the r56 looks. I couldn't keep my eyes off of it!

I had to wait 2 months, well, I'm still waiting, but it's almost 2 months, so I guess it depends on the dealer?

[British SD]

From what I understand the export of them has not shifted into high gear yet. In Canada the dealers only started getting them in last month and those were all pre-specked. We have not seen any Coopers with stickshifts yet and many options are still limited for us at the moment.

[ayde_bury]

There are loads about. the reason that the delivery times have shortened is that the output of the plant has been increased to cope with the demand

[spf]

My dealer said that they had not been as busy as usual on the 1st March?

[CooperS4us]

I have only seen a handful of new R56s here in Miami. My locar dealer has a huge stock of them.

The next 3 to 6 months of USA sales figures will tell the tale.

[Tone]

I asked the question because TV in the UK has started commercials advertising them again + the fact that I have only seen one down here in the south. None showed during a week in London

[Paul]

The success story continues: MINI makes a million "MINI UK will see its biggest monthly sales record since the car went on sale in July 2001. Preliminary figures indicate 7,854 sales in March. The previous record month was in March 2006 with 7,687 sales."

[ru81]

I had only seen one or two R56 on the road until today. I went shopping to Milton Keynes and saw a total of 7 R56s - only one was a Cooper S, the rest were Coopers. There are a few out there!!

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

I don't think I've ever seen a television commercial for the MINI! Mind you, I try and avoid commercial TV if I possibly can, so I guess that doesn't help

I know that I can go into my local dealer and choose a fair variety of new R56's from stock, when it wasn't so long ago that there was a 3 month waiting list for an S. Yes, the supply has improved, but there should have been a huge influx of interest and orders for the new R56, but I just haven't seen it going on anywhere near me

Tigger.

[CooperS4us]

Here in the USA, the R56 launch marketing campaign centered around a series of short "films"of a story named "Hammer & Coop" The whole plot is reminiscent of "Knight Rider", the cheesy 1980's action TV series starring a talking car (1984 Pontiac Firebird) named KITT.

I think that while Hammer & Coop had its funny moments, it was a lame marketing effort that pales in comparison to the March 2002 MINIUSA launch marketing campaign and the 2003 release of the Italian Job by Paramount Pictures.

MINIUSA was dumped by its marketing agency Crispin, Porter + Bogusky here in Miami (They went to work for Volkswagen North America and things are not going well there) and they switched to a different ad agency in the vecinity of San Francisco, CA. Their latest marketing efforts, while cute and all, do not convey any sort of real connection between the car and its owners, they way the CP+B marketing campaign did. which was and still is absolutely brilliant.