MINI Rules Out Sports Car Due To Lack Of Profitability

[supra93]

http://www.carscoops.com/2017/05/min...e-to-lack.html

MINI has teased us with a handful of cool concepts over the years but it appears the company has ruled out a production version of the Superleggera Vision concept.

Speaking with Top Gear, officials at the British automaker confirmed the company will stick with its four model lineup until the next-generation of MINIs arrive.

The statement leaves a little bit of wiggle room for sporty models in the future but one insider told the publication "margins in the sports car market appear too small for a company of MINI’s size, and making good profit on a niche little sports car is too difficult."

The news is disappointing to hear as the company has previously offered a handful of sporty models including the two-seat Coupe and Roadster. Both cars failed to catch on with consumers as combined sales in the United States registered a little over 13,500 units. Given the limited sales, it not hard to see why MINI pulled the plug on both cars simultaneously back in 2015.

Given the absence of new vehicles, MINI customers will have to make do with high-performance variants of the Cooper, Clubman, and Countryman.

[Red Bread]

The Roadster and Coupe were just the base car made to look sporty. No lighter, no sportier, just meant to look like it. The fact that BMW can't recognize why consumers don't buy that is probably most of the problem.

[mkoesel]

margins in the sports car market appear too small for a company of MINI’s size, and making good profit on a niche little sports car is too difficult.

Yes, and margins being small is key here because not enough people want them. If you can sell a 10s of thousands a year, maybe it starts to become possible to cover the cost of designing, building, marketing, etc. the car. But today's buyers just don't want these cars anymore. The market is small, and frankly the Miata has it just about locked up. And its new Fiat twin is possible only because of the shared costs with Mazda.