[nwoodiwiss]

Just blitzed through the show - sprinted to the Mini display, chatted up the staff, ogled the Minis and zoomed out again. Some factoids I gleaned:

- Canadian launch Minis are on a ship that will dock in Halifax, Nove Scotia within days. Will be in dealer prep in a couple of weeks.

- March 22 is still the launch date. A salesman from Budds (Mini Oakville) said I should be able to drive my launch cooper away that day.

- All "S" cars will be fully customer spec'd - no pre-pspecs like the launch cooopers. Told to expect the "S" in August timeframe. Budds are expecting one "S" per-month.

- got the Canadian Mini brochure, after quick read the most obvious new information is that Xenon lights are standard on both the Cooper and the "S".

Cheers...

[Paul]

Xenons as standard?! I wish we did.

[nwoodiwiss]

Yup - I was impressed. The only cars without will be the 500 "Launch Coopers" coming in March - they'll be a sort of "reverse collectible" I guess ! (I hope so 'cos I'm getting one, just to stop me going mad waiting for the "S" which I will then trade it in for).

[noahe]

The Xenon thing is nice to hear, and it's nice to have the August date backed up from another source.

The one thing you mentioned that is actually very, very worrying is the one 'S' per month number. I'm around 20th on the list at my dealer, and sure, some of them are Cooper orders and launch edition orders, but if I'm 10th on the list, am I going to wait 10 MONTHS?! after august?

I can. I will. But wow. That's the most depressing news yet. I hope Town & Country BMW, being Canada's largest volume BMW dealer, can get their hands on more than one a month.

[Basil]

Anyone have any idea why volumes of the Cooper S are so low compared with the Cooper ?

If this site is anything to go by, the interest in the S far outways the Cooper in all markets.

[Paul]

I think that the Cooper will out sell the S easily.

This site is mostly occupied by enthusiasts or 'car nut' types, who are more likely to want extra bits and more power. I don't think we we reflect too well the general car/MINI buying public.

Although it does seem the USA and Oz buyers are even more 'petrol head' types than us Brits.



Possibly because of the cost of said petrol!?

[Basil]

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul_Mullett
I think that the Cooper will out sell the S easily.

This site is mostly occupied by enthusiasts or 'car nut' types, who are more likely to want extra bits and more power. I don't think we we reflect too well the general car/MINI buying public.

Although it does seem the USA and Oz buyers are even more 'petrol head' types than us Brits.



Possibly because of the cost of said petrol!?

Your probably right. According to my dealer he has equal amounts of Coopers and Cooper S on his order books. No doubt further exposure at the Melbourne Grand Prix will add to the Cooper order books.

As for Australian petrol heads your quite right.....but the MINI would not be high on the "general" petrol head list here. As you say petrol prices dictate that "petrol heads" here go for 5.0 litre V8 commodores. The small performance car hardly gets a look in. Which is good, as a Sept/Oct delivery is long enough to wait.......

[Basil]

Quote:

Originally posted by Basil


Your probably right. According to my dealer he has equal amounts of Coopers and Cooper S on his order books. No doubt further exposure at the Melbourne Grand Prix will add to the Cooper order books.

As for Australian petrol heads your quite right.....but the MINI would not be high on the "general" petrol head list here. As you say petrol prices dictate that "petrol heads" here go for 5.0 litre V8 commodores. The small performance car hardly gets a look in. Which is good, as a Sept/Oct delivery is long enough to wait.......

(Good grief, I've just re-read what i've said, and it's utter garbage.......oh well......zzzzz time)

[snoopy]

Hay guys/girls go have a look at the Canadian mini web site.

MINI Canada

They have a section of pictures they have taken at the Motor show of the cars. The only problem is their are people sanding in the way of the cars so you can't get a good look at cars.

[Basil]

Quote:

Originally posted by snoopy
Hay guys/girls go have a look at the Canadian mini web site.

MINI Canada

They have a section of pictures they have taken at the Motor show of the cars. The only problem is their are people sanding in the way of the cars so you can't get a good look at cars.

yea, this guy's obviously testing out the strength of the door hinges, and the wear characteristics of the interior door trim.......good grief. If someone did that to my car i'd knock his block off!!

[nwoodiwiss]

He is one of the Mini Canada sales reps - all Gen X preppy punks (male & female). Obviously the assumption is that the clients will be same (unlike me, an ageing old f**t who drove the Cooper and the "S" in London in the 60's)

I've also heard the sales people in the Mini Canada showrooms will be salaried, not on commission.

[Basil]

Salary huh......that explains his stance.

[sdmidget]

I've heard the same thing about sales staff at one dealer in the US - i.e., why pay commission to the sales staff when there's a waiting list of many months (at least) of people already committed to buy!

[noahe]

If I were one of the MINI reps in Canada, with 15+ dealers splitting a pool of 3000 cars, bound to trickle in slowly, it would be a bad thing.

The salary idea is fitting with the style of the MINI marketing. Look at Saturn, they do the same thing.

On the subject of the volume of Cooper sales Vs. Cooper S sales, someone replied to one of my earlier queries saying that although the revolutionary MINI plant can churn out specific cars (and not have to do a single run of say identically spec'd right hand drive MINI Coopers) there will still be a limited number of certain Cooper S parts, like Superchargers, Getrag transmissions, Bonnets with a scoop, big wings, less swept antennas, brushed aluminum paint, etc...

I'm certain they'll up there orders to attempt to fill demand, but I don't think they'd slow production to wait for the parts. I think they'll get on with shipping the 26,000 cars to the US, and 3,000 to Canada.

Can anyone tell me if the 'one S per month' quote sounds right? That is a sort of horrifying prospect for one about 20th on the list in Toronto.

[nwoodiwiss]

As the bishop said to the actress (but I digress )

I'll check with another dealer in the GTA I know to verify the one-per-month-S that I was quoted as the TO show...now I think about it it seems real low...

[noahe]

Not to harp on the subject... But I was just thinking...

If there are to be 3000 MINI's Comming to Canada (Source: MINI2)
And approximately 15 dealers (Source MINI.ca)
And maybe 25% of those are going to be S variants (Source: Some guy)
Then (3000 MINI's x 25%)/15 dealers = 50 S models per dealer. At one per month, it would take over 4 years for this year's allotment of MINI Cooper S's to get distributed.

So something has to give. Is the one-a-month estimate crap? Are we not getting 3000? Are there significantly more than 15 dealers? Are not even 25% of the MINI's destined to be Cooper S's? It'd have to be more like 6% in order for them to get shipped within a year.

Just a thought.

[minimc]

Hi there,

In speaking with BMW Canada I believe they said that there are 500 launch edition Minis that will arrive between March and July. Additionally each Canadian dealer will receive one Cooper'S' in April. I can't get too excited tho... these few aren't for sale (or so I am told). Show room only!

With regard to the 1 car per month that's Cooper 'S' per dealer. ...And 'summer' was as close as BMW would come to an actual solid delivery date for saleable 'S' models.

$ down for an 'S' and # 8 on the list. Purchasing from Toronto's King Street West dealership (no building yet and unnamed). Is this wild or what?

FYI
Mini sales reps at the Toronto show were encouraged by mgmt. to sit on the doors - in order to demonstrate the stiffness of the frame. A foolish/questionable sales tactic.

[noahe]

Quote:

...there are 500 launch edition Minis that will arrive between March and July. Additionally each Canadian dealer will receive one Cooper'S' in April.

With regard to the 1 car per month that's Cooper 'S' per dealer. ...And 'summer' was as close as BMW would come to an actual solid delivery date for saleable 'S' models.

Well, there you go. No need to get antsy about rumours. This sounds a lot more like what we've been hearing from various other sources.

Some people will get their cars anywhere from March 22 to May (Launch editions and Coopers)

We get to test drive the dealer's 1 Cooper S in a month in April some time.

Cooper S models start trickling in to dealers late summer.

[SomeBlondeGuy]

I too noticed the Mini reps sitting on the doors, at the Toronto show. I was kinda shocked, myself.