Here are some news items below. My local Mini dealer hardly has a car to sell. You can order one and the wait is about 3 and a half months. I have an '84 A1 Cabbie (8V 1.8) and am looking at the Mini as a replacement because of the similarities - the Mini is 3 inches wider and 1 foot shorter, stiff suspension, sure handling. I'm not sure I'm convinced by the gearing in the mini (either the 5- or the 6-speed), however. And despite that, I'm not sure that the fuel economy is that much better, especially with the high-test requirement.
-Michael S.
Over 100,000 MINIs delivered this year, UK and USA biggest markets.
Sales of the MINI brand rose in the first seven months to 106,603, an increase of 39.4% in comparison with the same period last year, at 76,471 units. In July, 16,723 vehicles were sold worldwide (+19.0%, prev.yr. 14,056).
The strongest market is still the United Kingdom, with 4,343 units in July (+83.9%, prev.yr. 2,361), followed by the USA with sales of 3,084 vehicles in July (+7.6%, prev.yr. 2,866). Important markets apart from these are Germany, with sales in July of 2,477 vehicles (+5.4%, prev.yr. 2,350) and Italy with
1,972 units (+12.5%, prev.yr. 1,753). .
Information courtesy MINI Press.
MINI - Record Sales in the UK
Biggest ever UK market share for British-built MINI.
MINI has achieved a sales record in July by taking its biggest market share since it first went on sale two years ago in July 2001.
MINI sales accounted for 2.18 per cent of the UK market equating to 4,282 cars registered. This is 80 per cent up on sales during July last year and means more than one person in every 50 buying a new car chose a MINI.
Before reaching this month's sales record, MINI's highest market share was 2.08 per cent in January 2003.
With the latest addition of the MINI One D to the family, MINI has sold 24,381 cars so far in 2003.
Information courtesy MINI Press.