MINI not increasing production despite booming demand

According to Tom Kowaleski, BMW’s North American vice president of corporate communications, BMW is not planning on increasing the production for MINI any time soon despite high demand and record sales. With gas-prices on the rise, MINI dealers in the U.S. have just 1,051 cars in their inventory as of July 1st.

During the first half of 2008, MINI sales were up a record 33.6 percent with a total 26,400 units sold. That’s a substantial increase compared to the 19,759 units sold during the same period in 2007. Kowaleski says that MINI marketing execs are working on a new forecast for the demand of the cars in the U.S. before they head over to BMW to increase production.

Since MINI plants are pumping out Coopers at full capacity, a production increase would force BMW to spend more to expand the plant.

According to Kowaleski 2009 model prices are under review due to the higher cost of commodities and the weak dollar.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)