Driving Sports

You see them everywhere - "New Mini" Cooper S and Cooper hatchbacks, convertibles, and now the lengthened Clubman editions. Occasionally, you'll see the super-duper hot rod "John Cooper Works" editions or even the limited-run Factory Lightweight GP editions. But each day, each week, you see more and more of them driven by shiny happy people bopping gloriously toward their dreams of motoring nirvana.

Now, just weeks after celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original Mini Cooper, the 1.5 millionth New Mini rolled off the Oxford production line in the UK - appropriately enough, a Chili Red MINI Clubman S.

The new Mini was launched in 2001 as a 2002 model year car, and if you think they're popular in the U.S., they're even more prevalent in Europe. In the 41 years between 1959 and 2000, 5.3 million classic Minis were built, so the total when combined with new MINI volume is 6.8 million Minis built so far.

MINI's parent copany, BMW Group, has invested more than $500 million in Plant Oxford since 2001 and a further $160 million in the Hams Hall and Swindon plants, which make up the MINI “Production Triangle” in the UK. The Group employs more than 7,000 people in the UK, and its activities account for 1 percent of the country’s GDP.

The US continues to play a strong and growing role in MINI’s worldwide success. Already, MINI sells more in the US than any other market. Last month, MINI USA reported sales of 4,105 automobiles and year-to-date, MINI USA also reported sales of 20,885 automobiles.

“In June, we saw consumers coming back into dealerships in some metro areas like Boston, New York and Los Angeles and that's encouraging,” said Jim McDowell, Vice President of MINI USA.  “The positive results in those three areas have helped to decouple MINI somewhat from the industry decline and we continue to outperform the market by a wide margin.”

MINI USA has confirmed its intention to expand its 83-strong US dealer network by 20 percent during the next 18 months to a total of 100 outlets across the country.