The first mini was introduced in 1959. Many of us in America remember it as the Morris Minor. Our fascination with small and micro cars started many decades ago, but the Mini has outlived most of them.
The American Austin was built in the states from 1929 to 1934 in order to offer the American public an inexpensive vehicle, so families could afford a second car. Two decades later, in 1959, the Mini was born.
15 years ago, on March 22, 2002, the new Mini came from across the pond and Americans once again caught the “little car bug”. Since that time, 725,000 Mini’s have sold from coast to coast.
Over the past 15 years, MINI has grown its vehicle portfolio from the iconic single Hardtop model that launched the brand here in the U.S. to include four unique models each with their own personality. The MINI Convertible, MINI Clubman and MINI Countryman have become staples of the MINI product line, providing the premium performance, daring design, and fun-to-drive dynamics MINI customers have come to know and expect from the brand. And as demand for the product increased, so did the company’s dealer network, growing from 66 dealers in 2002 to 127 dealers in 2017 across 39 states.
MINI was ranked #1 in Sales Satisfaction by J.D. Power & Associates 6 times. The brand was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Global Brands by Interbrand, and Strategic Vision named MINI as the Most Loved Mass-Market Brand in their 2016 survey. And earlier this year, in the true MINI underdog spirit, the MINI JCW Race Team won the first race of the season at Daytona, leaving behind six Porsches, three BMWs, four Mazdas, one Ford Mustang and one Nissan.
Mini is now an independent brand of the BMW Group. In the United States, MINI USA operates as a business unit of BMW of North America, LLC.
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