Mini dealers expect a boost from new EV

The Mini brand hopes to begin rebounding from lean times in 2020 with the promise of new models, including the fully electric 2020 Mini Cooper SE, which is due in March.

Until then, dealers have been largely getting by on used-car sales, factory incentives — and for most Mini dealers, the strength of their BMW franchises.

"Definitely, Mini buyers are excited" about the 2020 Mini Cooper SE, said Jason Willis, chairman of the Mini National Dealer Council. "We have a very large number of hand raisers."

Willis, 41, is a rare Mini dealer without a BMW franchise. He is dealer principal of Willis Auto Campus, with a total of five dealerships in Des Moines, Iowa. Besides Mini, Willis Auto Campus has Cadillac, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus and Volvo franchises.

"Overall, profitability continues to be the challenge for Mini dealers," he told Automotive News. New-car sales are down, which means dealers aren't seeing as many trade-ins for resale, he said.

To help out, effective Jan. 1, Mini USA has increased the amount of factory incentives dealers potentially can earn in return for meeting factory goals in categories such as compliance with facility standards, dealer training and exclusivity, Willis said.

Under that Business Builder program, dealers can earn up to 4 percent of suggested retail in back-end incentives per vehicle, up from a maximum of 3.5 percent in 2019, Willis said.

Mini's U.S. sales were 36,092 in 2019, down 17.4 percent from 2018, while the entire U.S. market was down 1.2 percent. Mini car sales were down 15.3 percent, and even more worrisome, its light-truck sales were down 20.5 percent in a market that is leaning toward light trucks.

The lineup has the Mini Countryman, a small crossover, but Mini's brand perception is that of a small-car franchise. That's especially true in the Midwest, Willis said.

"The Central Region with Mini is a bit more of a challenge, being it's such a heavy SUV market here. Still, there's definitely demand for Mini customers, they still love it," he said.

Mini had 128 U.S. dealers as of Jan. 1, 2019, vs. 127 a year earlier, according to the Automotive News Dealer Census. Out of the total, 102 were defined as exclusives. Most Mini dealers also own an adjacent BMW dealership, and Willis said Mini now allows "exclusive" dealerships to share some back-shop functions with BMW, provided customer-facing areas are exclusive to Mini.