Mini Cooper fails to find niche; Beetle/Cruiser win sales ..

Mini Cooper fails to find niche; Beetle/Cruiser win sale race

BMW's Mini Cooper has thus far failed to find its niche.
With Mini's piling up on dealer's lots, BMW has started
an unfocused ad campaign, with slogans such as "You've
never had so much fun for $16,975" and "Sip, don't guzzle".

So, why could the retro New Beetle and PT Cruiser be such
successes while the Mini has fallen on its face? After
all, the Mini too is a good functional car.

First is BMW's gross misunderstanding of the lure of the
retro look. Its based on good memories. Americans still
see original Beetles around. While the Cruiser isn't
styled after a specific 30's car, Americans still see
the durable 30's Chevrolets, Fords, and Plymouths being
used as Sunday drivers. But who ever saw the original
Mini in America? Almost no one.

Back then, America had the world's most successful economy.
The Big 3 had just invented the "compact" car, Valiants
and Falcons as big as a typical Mercedes. Americans sure
weren't interested in a micro car produced for second rate
economies. And so the original Mini hardly sold in the
US. There's no retro for Americans to remember with the
Mini. How BMW could miss such a simple fact can only be
explained by a smaller dose of the arrogance that let
Mercedes think it could run Chrysler.

Of course, the New Beetle and the Cruiser aren't successful
in quite the way intended. It was supposed both would
attract young buyers of both genders. Instead, both are
preferred by middle aged and usually slightly plump women.

Here, of course, is a market the Mini has no chance of
touching. The Mini isn't right for those chunky women,
whether its the car or the skirt.

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003, Joseph Oberlander wrote:

 > Take a look at the new Echo hatchback. Small, economical,
 > and just as peppy around town. Huge amounts less money.

....and, like every Echo, ugly as all hell.

DS<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->