Mini Reveal 20 Per Cent Drop In UK Sales

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Fri, 10 Oct 2008

Mini sales in the UK have fallen by nearly 20 per cent over the past 12 months, the company has revealed.

During September, 7,116 of the Oxfordshire-built cars were sold in Britain compared with 8,764 in the same month in 2007, representing an 18.8 per cent drop.

But the BMW-owned carmaker said that it has experienced an increase in sales of its US models .

A total of 34,816 Minis have been sold so far in the UK this year compared with 36,969 in the first nine months of 2007.

Angela Stangroom, spokeswoman for BMW, said the company was keeping a close eye on the market situation and said it expects to build the same amount of cars this year at its Cowley plant as last year (237,000).

The declining UK figures come after the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) announced that new UK car registrations in September fell 21 per cent – the fifth consecutive month that the SMMT has reported falls in new car sales .

September is generally regarded as one of the most popular months for buying a new car, second only to March - the other month in which car registration letters change.