Hey... I stand corrected. Not one to avoid admiting when I'm wrong (or at least partially wrong), I was browsing some of the MINI dealerships onling and found the following inventory numbers:

MINI Center San Antonio - No new R56's that are not allready sold... however...

Momentuum MINI in Houston - 37 Coopers, and 28 S cars availible!

MINI of Woodlands - 27 Coopers and 25 S cars!

Not one however was marked below MSRP and the deals that they advertised (financing rates, 0 down etc.) were the same national MINI deals that every MINI dealer is running right now. Note, I did not take convertibles into account, since were talking about the R56 here.

In contrast, there are TWO (!?!) dealers that service the 6 state Pacific Northwest region (Alaska, Washington , Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming):

Rasmussen MINI - No new/unsold R56's. and...

Northwest MINI (Seattle/Tacoma) - 7 Coopers and 5 S cars

So it's apparent that MINI is not divvying up the allocation slots equally (though I won't pretend to understand how that all works). These numbers would suggest however, that supply vs. demand is going to be very different from region-to-region. If you live in a place like central Texas with 3 dealers within a couple hours of each other, all ordering a bunch of inventory, I think it's safe to assume you're going to see fewer dealers charging a markup and more cars on the lot to choose from.

 

I was JUST in MINI Center. Two different MAs said they have a 150 vehicle supply already there. I saw LOTS of cars for sale.

Some dealers don't keep their online database up-to-date.

EDIT: Oh yeah-they also have a $1500 "market adjustment"/extra profit tacked on.

 

Here is a link to the R&T article posted on Motoringfile:

http://motoringfile.com/2007/05/14/rt-comparison-test/

Just as I suspected, its VERY subjective. The majority of Mini owners buy the car because of its uniqueness--the very things the authors criticize the car for are the things many owners love about it. I take this article with a grain--make that an entire shaker--of salt. And the article emphasizes, not surprisingly, that the Mini is a sheer blast to drive. I seriously doubt this article will influence the majority of people one way or the other, as the "negatives" in the article actually endear many buyers to the car, and the positives mentioned in the article count for more than the negatives do for the average Mini buyer. Buying a car is a subjective process; buying a MINI is about as visceral a car buying experience as you can get--hard, cold logic, while maybe applicable shopping a Sentra or Civic, which are a dime a dozen, but I will always maintain a different type of person shops or even considers a MINI. Probably overlaps more with the VW than the other cars....This is just my opinion, but for what its worth, I was beaten up not all that long ago as an R56 basher...

Haven't read the C&D article though...

 

150 cars for sale? Or 150 R56's for sale? I saw a lot of cars at every dealership online (often over 100, possibly pushin 150 at Woodlands MINI). Narrowing it down to 2007, the lists were almost always cut in half (mor than 1/2, actually). Eliminating 'verts cut the list in half again. Either way, I think 50 R56 cars is a lot for a MINI dealership to have on hand right now.

Either way, that shoots down the dropped dealer mark-up due to huge overstock theory, too!

 

There are several factors that affect allocations. Each dealer does not get the same allocation. Among the things considered are: Past sales performance, days in inventory, advance orders, ordered vs. dealer stock, service area of the dealership, etc.
Also, although I can see rationalizations to the contrary, until you get all the "market adjustment" eliminated, you aren't getting any "freebies". I didn't pay any "market adjustment" -- nor was one ever added on. But I didn't get any freebies, either. Although MoS no doubt considered giving me the mud flaps installed for the price I actually agreed to with them (as opposed to the insane price they tried to get after the fact) as "giving" me something.

 

They said 150 '07 for sale. I didn't get it split up between '07 cabrio's and R56.