Mini to add new cars in its lineup

KUALA LUMPUR: Over the past few decades, Mini has expanded its model lineup exponentially, and still, the iconic brand is experiencing existential crises. According to reports, the US market (one of the world’s biggest automotive markets) is favoring pickups and crossovers over small cars, thus giving Mini a hard time catching up with the trend.

Despite all this, the BMW Group seems optimistic about Mini’s future and is under plans to add more two-door hatchbacks and crossovers to its lineup. As per Pieter Nota, BMW Group Sales Head, new products and fresh offerings can only turn things around for Mini. He further said that developments are also being done in the small crossover segment. Nota went on saying that as Mini’s core customer base is not growing and the need of the hour is to enter new segments to attract new buyers.

Last year, crossover sales accounted for 38 percent in the US, five-year ago it was 27 percent. During the same time frame, the share for small-car market shrank from 18 to 12 percent. Mini Countryman, a compact crossover was the company’s best selling model through June 2019, although its sales steadily declined since its peak run of 66,502 units in 2013. All this seriously affected Mini’s profitability, and many consolidation efforts were seen in the form of the splitting of real estate overheads and background expenses, and sharing of operating facilities with BMW.

However, all this doesn’t mean that Mini is giving-up on the US market. Well, that’s not the case, as Nota is pretty confident about the brand’s performance, especially with the coming up of the new Mini Electric.

Spanking of the future, the new Mini electric model lineup would be either fully or partially electric. BMW is yet to confirm on the electrification of Mini’s entire range; however, the existing platforms can accommodate full electric, hybrid, and conventional engines. Currently, Mini Countryman PHEV is the sole electric vehicle in its lineup.

“We see certainly a significant role for electric in MINI. But there is also going to be a place for our John Cooper Works because there is serious customer demand there. We will also have some really exciting combustion engines for the MINI brand.” said Nota.