#DefyLabels Tough month for the luxury performance brand with Mini moving the sales bar. Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG – Feb. 2, 2016 Mini's “Defy Labels” With 100+ million viewers from across the globe expected to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday, MINI USA unveiled its star-studded 30-second spot set to air in the third quarter of the year’s biggest night in television advertising. The ad, embraces many of the labels the brand has experienced over the years with a very powerful message: it doesn’t care what you call it. “Defy Labels,” has its roots in the fact that everyone and everything is labeled but how you handle those labels is what matters. With defiance at its core, the campaign inspires people to shed the labels society has placed upon them and instead define themselves. The brand worked with an ensemble cast of athletes and celebrities to help start that conversation. Staying true to the nature of the campaign, MINI wanted to include personalities that had a relationship to the brand and could also speak authentically about the topic of overcoming labels. The spot includes Serena Williams, Abby Wambach, T-Pain, Randy Johnson, Tony Hawk, and Harvey Keitel. Each also filmed a series of long-form interviews sharing their own perspectives about labels that are available on the campaign microsite at MiniUSA – Defy Labels. Tom Noble, Department Head, MINI Brand Communications: In addition to the celebrities and athletes listed above, the “Defy Labels” advertisement will feature non-celebrity MINI owners and members of the MINI John Cooper Works racing team, who also choose to be a bit different and break convention. Serena Williams featured in “Defy Labels” The campaign will continue to rollout on television and across digital and social platforms over the next few months to support the launch of the all-new MINI Clubman, which is on sale now at MINI dealerships throughout the U.S. BMW January 2016 Sales Overview The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported January sales of 21,320 vehicles, a decrease of 4.0 percent from the 22,209 vehicles sold in January of 2015. With two fewer selling days in January of 2016 vs. January of 2015, the Daily Selling Rate (DSR) showed the groups sales actually up 4.0 percent. Sales of 18,082 BMW brand vehicles in January was off 4.7 percent in January compared to 18,981 vehicles sold in January of 2015. MINI USA reported it sold 3,238 automobiles in January, an increase of 0.3 percent from the 3,228 sold in in January of 2015. BMW Motorrad motorcycle sales reached 450 bikes in January, down 31.9 percent compared to the 661 sold in January 2015. BMW January 2016 Sales Highlights In January, BMW 5-Series sales of 3,795 vehicles was up 13.0 percent over the 3,359 sold in January of 2015. X3 January sales of 2,002 vehicles was up 49.3 percent over the 1,341 sold in January of 2015. Notice the Nissan, Toyota and Ford declines while GM and especially Chrysler picked up significant market share. U.S. January 2016 Sales vs. January 2015 Sales Ranks and Results for the top 14 Automobile Manufacturers GM January 2016 Sales Up 0.5% with 203,745 Vehicles Sold Ford January 2016 Sales Down 2.6% with 173,723 Vehicles Sold Toyota January 2016 Sales Down 4.7% with 161,283 Vehicles Sold FCA January 2016 Sales Up 6.9% with 155,037 Vehicles Sold Nissan January 2016 Sales Up 1.6% with 105,734 Vehicles Sold Honda January 2016 Sales Down 1.7% with 100,497 Vehicles Sold Hyundai January 2016 Sales Down 1.1% with 45,011 Vehicles Sold Subaru January 20165 Sales Up 0.7% with 41,101 Vehicles Sold Kia January 2016 Sales Flat with 38,305 Vehicles Sold Mercedes-Benz January 2016 Sales Up 1.3% with 26,962 Vehicles Sold BMW January 2016 Sales Down 4.0% with 21,320 Vehicles Sold VW January 2016 Sales Down 14.6% with 20,079 Vehicles Sold Mazda January 2016 Sales Down 2.8% with 19,703 Vehicles Sold Audi January 2016 Sales Up 2.7% with 11,850 Vehicles Sold Anyone notice that Nissan sales outpaced Honda in January? The seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) for light vehicles in January was approximately 17.5 million vehicles.
