Just confirmed - I am still NOT on a boat.

What the flying $*#( MINI....

 

I have no idea why this process seems so unorganized. It's just scheduling and time management!
And I am not good at waiting, so this is testing my resolve.

 

I fear that MINI is not releasing any of the Coupes from the port until (on or after) the October 1st launch date. Since the dealerships are not allowed to sell the cars until then, there is no point in having them pile up at the dealerships (some of which have very little storage room). This isn't a huge deal for those on the East coast, but really sucks for those on the West coast (seeing as it takes nearly a month of transport to get them there). I for one would have opted for a later build date if I had known that my Coupe was just going to be sitting out in the sun, rain, and salt air at the Southampton port for two full weeks.

Not sure what to think about the few Coupes that slipped through and actually made it onto a ship before all the others did. Just luck of the draw I suppose.

AFAIK, there are no customer ordered Coupes at any of the dealerships yet. The Coupes that are starting to show up now, are just the pre-configured demo/show Coupes that MINI allotted to each dealership. The dealerships have the option to hold on to the cars as demo/show cars, or sell them (on or after October 1st only). I for one would rather wait for a custom ordered Coupe, than to take one that was pre-configured by MINI (or the dealership) and wasn't exactly what I wanted.

 

That is kind of my feeling on what they are doing as well. Holding them at a port though for over a week is one of the stupidest things. If I had known that then I would have asked mine to be built later.

They should be more realistic and factor in the travel time across the Atlantic into this 'October 1st' release date if this was the situation. Then again they could hold the cars at the VDC. They did that for my R56 at launch.

Either way - Not to thrilled at MINI. I would love to complain but I have no idea where to start because it honestly isn't my dealers fault.

My dealer did say they are contacting MINI to find out what is going on because they are stumped. If I hear back, I will let you guys know.

 

Well, the Asian King is due at Southampton in the next couple of days and my coupe is at port waiting for a vessel. We should know more by Friday. I honestly don't think that Mini would produce the cars when they did if they were just going to hold them at port. You would think they would just schedule a later production week. I am sure we will start seeing the coupes that have been built being loaded onto transports this week. My MA is still planning on a late October/1st of November delivery so I am assuming it will be on the Asian King (leave Southampton 9/28, 22d sailing, at the VDC by 10/19, to the dealership by 10/27). Seems about right to me. But again, we will know more on Friday. I have decided not to check with OL, ASK-MINI, or my MA until Friday. I will just watch some of the video reviews over and over (....and over) to get my fix. Good luck everybody on catching a boat. fingers crossed...

 

I understand the thought process with the "hold until after Oct 1", but the flaw is that some have already left the UK, and there is no way on God's green earth they would get here before Oct 1... Unless they put them on a plane and flew them over.

I think this is a volume game. How much space is there on the ships either in port or about to arrive, against the number of MINIs needing to be shipped.

Personally, I think that the West Coast people will see an update sometime Friday that they are on their way.

As for the delay being a "wheel thing", I have the same wheels and mine is at the port. If those of you without any information on your current orders don't see movement, you might want ask your MA WTF is going on.

 

More than likely not a supply hold up. My JCW has almost every box checked. It is currently sitting 600 miles East of Cape Cod, MA.

 

I understand the holding until launch date. My company does that for certain product. In the last month or so, some dealerships have been running lean on new inventory since the Japan Disaster. A couple of weeks ago, the dealership I deal with only had 4 new Mini's on hand, with the remainder used. Perhaps part of this is juggling to get inventory in the hands of the dealers? Just a thought.

 

If they do an inventory hold - then it will be held at the VDC.

They did this for the R56 launch. They held my car for about 8-10 days at the VDC while they waited until the day for launch. (VDC's in the US that is)

As for dealer inventory - I don't know.. Maybe? The thing though is that all custom orders are set as 'Priority 1 - Sold' status and are given top priority on deliveries and shipments. So not sure why ours would be bumped off for dealer cars which aren't guaranteed sold.

 

The first set of pre-configured Coupes would indeed take priority over customer cars in this case as every dealership needs to have at least one Coupe on display for the October 1st launch. Normally, that is not the case, but for a lunch/debut it is.

Since, we know of no customer configured Coupes that have left Southampton (other than those first three odd ball Coupes that were built early on), it's quite obvious that something is causing them to be held up at the Southampton port. The Oxford plant produces something like 700 MINIs per day... Thus, I'm sorry, but there's just no way that this is simply a volume issue that is causing it to take two weeks to get the Coupes onto ships (for both East and West delivery).

 

Hey are you calling my Coupe odd ball? Seems to me you have it reversed!!

It sure is weird. I still don't understand the hold up. The cars for the West coast take 20 days to get here anyway so none would be sold before Oct 1 anyway.

 

Wouldn't it be something if I found out that mine is still sitting on the doc of the bay????

That would be the craps.

 

True - That I totally understand but the thing is.. all the pre-configured Coupes have already arrived..

I saw the 3 at my dealership this weekend along with a handful of the other guys here. So these were made/shipped WEEKS before ours were finished. They started making these way back when MotoringFile reported back on July 9th.

http://www.motoringfile.com/2011/07/...-off-the-line/

This is actually the same color combo that some of the dealerships received so yea those aren't choking our orders in shipping at all.. That is for sure.

 

Ha! Guess I should of said "special" instead of "odd ball". That would have been more politically correct.

 

At least you didn't say. oops.

Edit: Thought the word was best left out. Even though no harm was meant.

 

Talked with MA today confirmed late Oct. build, therefore changed some add ons. Deleted the cold weather pkg. Dont need that in Texas.
Drove a S Coupe the clutch seem to engage a lot higher than my 2010 Cooper S hatchback. Hope the JCW is not the same. Otherwise enjoyed the drive. Hope Oxford will start earlier than the last of oct.

 

Apparently I am not on any ships yet either, with production done on the 16th. I too have the 17" challenge spoke wheels (in chrome?, definitely not black). Kudos to Zyamfier for telling me how to get my VIN. But, my MA has ordered my port installed accessories.

 

Had to have my Monday status update.... according to Ask-Mini...my coupe is in the body shop! next stop a bit of silver and black :-)

 

You have excellent taste, jbs111.

 

Woo Hoo! I was going to order in January but the possibility of getting pinched by limited production for the model year scared me into getting off my ***. Got my production number today for:

Cooper S Coupe
Lightning Blue Metallic, Silver roof, Sport stripes
Upholstery Carbon Black Checkered Cloth
Cold Weather Package - heated seats, mirrors, and washer jets.
16" wheels, 6-Star Twin Spoke
Center armrest
Dynamic Traction Control
Bluetooth and USB/iPod adapter
White turn-signals

Instead of pics like you have seen before I'll list the add-ons and changes I'm likely to do:
Regular tires and a spare or a 12 volt pump
Garmin nüvi 1490LMT, ecoRoute and Craven mount
iPod Classic
Towing eye bolt, kept in the boot just in case
Replace speakers and add an amp, about $1,000

 

V2Bob, congrats! Welcome to the waiting game. LOL


My MA confirmed I am still at port as well. I asked him if they could try and find out what's going on. As I said to him this is very un-MINI like.

 

Awesome! At the current shipping rate, we'll probably end up getting our Coupes at the exact same time. Congrats.

 

For those wondering.. My MINI Dealer got back to me (The sales manager). They have been incredibly awesome in helping me figure out what is going on and actually contacted MINI directly.

They said my car apparently didn't get to port until the 20th. The last boat that left Southampton that had MINIs on it was the 17th. I checked back and the TURNADOT left on the 17th and that was the one Zyamifier got on. They haven't had a boat since. Apparently there will be a boat this week and I should be on the next one but they never told me which boat that would be. They said it would be 'by end of week'. :(

So that means that none of the three ships that came last week even took ONE single car out of Southampton...

I know for a fact that Countrymans were loaded onto the 'MANON' as someone on NAM has already confirmed they are on that boat so that one has MINIs. That arrived in Southampton just an hour or so ago. Hopefully this one loads up our Coupes and we can be on our way. That departs tomorrow.

God only knows though. This is getting a bit ridiculous.

Just wanted to get you the latest information I heard. You all should ask your MA's and see if we can get more explanations.


EDIT: What is funny is that the AIDA that Herby is on was delivering to the East Coast and they arrived on the 19th at Southampton. I feel like they fibbed on their story.. But whatever. Maybe they are right and that ship only had cars for the NYC VDC even though Brunswick, GA VDC was a stop for that ship.

 

Hard to say as the Countryman is built in Austria so who knows..... I really wish all of you could be on the TURADOT but it would not help much as it is not going to the West Coast. However, it is making a stop in Galvestion, TX.

 

Welcome v2Bob. You are now #027 on the MINI Coupe Roll Call.