It’s official: Mini Cooper D not coming to the U.S.

After months of haggling, it’s becoming clearer that the R56 MINI Cooper D may never set their wheels on US soil. The reason is that the costs for converting the European Diesel engine to US specifications are too large for a three- or four-year production run. Even if MINI USA charged 10%-15% more, they’d never make any money. And if MINI USA priced the car at 40%-50% more to pay for the re-engineering required, few would buy them at today’s moderately low fuel prices.
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Agent001 - 7/28/2009 5:49:01 PM

0 Boost

I guess I understand the decision...why would anyone want an attractive, fun, useful car that gets 75MPG? ;)

001

veyron1001 - 7/28/2009 7:27:15 PM

+2 Boost

Tree huggers that think that diesel is inefficient.

downtoearth - 7/29/2009 2:21:07 AM

+3 Boost

— Agent001:

> I guess I understand the decision...
> why would anyone want an attractive,
> fun, useful car that gets 75MPG? ;)

001, can you explain me something? Is BMW paying for writing false, marketing information about their vehicles here?

Because you're too many years in this industry to write such nonsense out of your naivety. So you just have to know this message is false and misleading and yet you produce it. Do you think American consumers like getting promises that are never to be fulfilled?

1. Real life fuel economy (44+ samples):
Mini Cooper D: 5,46 l / 100 km = 43,08 mpg US [1]

2. Since when Mini is useful? And in what? In carrying luggage? It has virtually no boot so it can't be good at this. In carrying four passengers? Well, there is only enough place for dogs in the rear seats. Last time I checked, humans didn't give birth to dogs so the Mini D might not be useful for any family.

Mini is a small city commuter with fun factor included. That's why the diesel version is EXCLUDED because small displacement diesels and fun are simply mutually exclusive. Sorry, you need a powerful, high revving gasoline engine for that.

Even Europeans understand this, that's why there are:
- 184+ samples for ordinary gas Mini Cooper
- 213+ samples for Cooper S
- just 44+ for the diesel
on Spritmonitor.

The gas Mini is acceptably already efficient (30 mpg US). And fun. Now costs of making the diesel comply with modern high emission standards (then maintaining such car) and the additional costs of the diesel itself would make the Mini price completely outside anyone's interests.

[1] http://www.spritmonitor.de/de/uebersicht/30-Mini/1023-Mini_Cooper_D.html

answer - 7/28/2009 7:26:55 PM

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People love to bitch about how diesels don't sell in the US, but when they aren't even being offered here, what can you expect?

veyron1001 - 7/29/2009 6:40:58 PM

+3 Boost

The US is suffering from the govt spending too much money

bfghemicuda - 7/31/2009 12:16:58 AM

+1 Boost

I totally agree with veyron on this one

tango - 7/28/2009 11:51:57 PM

+2 Boost

You know...for some strange reason I'm not surprised...

nguyenvuminh - 7/29/2009 3:18:47 AM

+1 Boost

Yes huu76, the 800+ million European Community market must be idiots for having used diesel-powered cars all these years. Hell, what does Mercedes, BMW, Peugeot, VW, etc. know about cars anyway.

downtoearth - 7/29/2009 3:37:23 AM

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— nguyenvuminh:

> Yes huu76, the 800+ million European Community
> market must be idiots for having used diesel-powered
> cars all these years.

1. It's called PROGRESS.

There were gasoline cars only, then diesel came, now it's the time of hybrids.

2. The rise of European diesel passenger cars came in 1991. Before that date, no one really cared about anything diesel in Europe.

http://online.wsj.com/media/info-parischr0609-diesel.gif
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-parischr0609-27.html

sector - 7/29/2009 5:51:02 PM

0 Boost

Good, and stay out!!!

There hasn't been a new refinery in the US in 30 yrs! that's not even counting the special processing diesel requires for refinement, diesel is DEAD technology!