The car industry had a pretty good year, at least in terms of sales, with most automakers posting year-over-year gains. Some brands suffered, however, though maybe none so much as Mini. The brand was down 21.5% in 2024 when compared to 2023, with sales falling from 33,497 to 26,299 units. There's a good reason for this.
A Mini spokesperson explained to Motor1 that the brand got hit with very unfortunate timing. This year saw Mini totally refresh its lineup, introducing new Cooper and Countryman models, and discontinuing the slow-selling Clubman. In anticipation of new cars arriving, Mini had its US dealers sell down old inventory. But, both new Mini models were caught up within a huge BMW Group recall over a braking-system issue and a subsequent stop-sale order. The spokesperson told Motor1 that there likely would've been a sales dip with the introduction of new Cooper and Countryman models all at once, but the brake recall made the situation worse.
Essentially, this left dealers unable to deliver new models and without old inventory to fall back on. In August, Mini began production of cars with updated braking components, but there's still cars built before this that need to be fixed. Additionally, there are still some models that haven't yet reached our shores, the Cooper Convertible and John Cooper Works variants.
Mini is feeling optimistic about 2025 with its fresh portfolio arriving as Americans are buying smaller, more affordable cars in larger numbers. (Though Mini's cars aren't the cheapest, the Cooper starting at $30,125 and well-equipped, top-flight versions of the Countryman around the $50,000 mark.) The brand is also hoping the electric Countryman SE will bring in new customers looking for an electric crossover as well.
The brand needs this product offensive to be a success—its best year here was back in 2012, with 76,354 sales. Hopefully 2024 will prove to be its nadir on its way to better things.
