Bumper year for MINI

MINI is enjoying the fruits of its labours, seeing sales growth outstripping the rest of the industry in 2017. And there's no sign of the brand's sales onslaught slowing, says Tony Sesto, MINI Australia general manager.

"We're quite happy with how the MINI brand has tracked so far in the first half of the year," Sesto told motoring writers during the launch of the John Cooper Works Countryman earlier this week.

"We've actually had our biggest first half ever, and June was the biggest month with registrations for MINI in Australia that we've ever seen on record."

Hinting that the new 'F Series' models on the UKL modular platform have played a major part in the recent sales uplift, Sesto says MINI's sales grew by 2.7 per cent for 2017 up to the end of June – a good result, he says, in a market that's flat overall, and the prestige segments are actually declining. In the month of June alone, MINI sales grew by 12.6 per cent, year on year.

"The momentum has continued in July for us," Sesto continued, citing year-on-year growth of 29.4 per cent for the month. "By the end of July we're up 6.3 per cent [year to date]."

Some growth is coming from the three-door and 5-Door hatch ranges combined – up one per cent – Sesto says, but it's the MINI Convertible that's showing the way, with sales growth up 75 per cent, year on year.

"We're also seeing growth from the Countryman," Sesto notes, "So the Countryman [is] quite strong. That's up around 27 per cent, year to date – compared to the same time last year."

Over 500 orders for the new Countryman have been taken by the MINI dealer network in Australia. Some of those are yet to be delivered to the buyers, Sesto says, because they're bespoke orders for the factory to build. Unexpectedly, a larger number of buyers are opting for the more expensive Cooper S, rather than the Countryman Cooper.

The MINI 7 hatch released in May has sold out the country's entire allocation of 420 units.

"If we could get more, we would sell more," Sesto observes.

And echoing the findings of other brands with hothouse models to offer, MINI's JCW variants account for 10 per cent of local sales, "which is extremely strong when you compare that to global average," says Sesto, who explained that the global average of JCW sales is about five per cent.

"We're actually on track to end at about 13 per cent by the end of this year, which you compare that against the five per cent global average and it's extremely strong."

Sesto revealed that MINI will introduce a new limited-edition model before the end of 2017, named the MINI Clubman Masterpiece. Based on the Clubman Cooper S, the Masterpiece edition will be finished in White Silver metallic paint and feature 18-inch alloy wheels. The allocation for Australia will be limited to 30 units and deliveries are expected to commence in October.

In addition, the importer will introduce a 'heritage' colour, Ice Blue, for the MINI hatch. Due in November, the colour will be applied to 40 cars.

Finally, the company will evaluate two units of the MINI Clubman PHEV and consider the sustainability of a business case for the plug-in model to complement a battery/electric hatch model, if that should go ahead in Australia.