Number of SEs at dealerships or "arriving soon"

I don't recall any forum members recently pining for the SE they ordered many months ago. The evaporation of the federal tax credit and MINI's price hikes appear to have had an effect.

 

I kinda do, a little…(link)

 

Your link took me to a car the Alexandria dealer has for sale. Are you pining for an SE you ordered months ago?

 

That was the one that I ordered!

“Pining” might be a bit of an overstatement, but I also said “kinda.” (I’m not full-blown John Cusack holding the boombox over my head or anything like that, but I do think it’s awesome lookin’.)

 

I remain skeptical. Even without the tax credit the SE is cost-comparable to the ICE model. From my observation at the dealer it appears they're selling well enough that it's now a standard percentage of dealer inventory, leading one to believe it's a model that is selling.

 

Are you sure they’re not sold and just sitting there looking pretty until delivery day? Every time I’ve seen… well, any EV on a dealer show line or on the floor, it’s spoken-for.

 

Not a big deal if the tax credit was unavailable (taxpayer second EV in the same year, corporate write-off, etc.).

Meanwhile the former TFL Cooper SE went for $22,100!

 

Good question. Here's the current inventory of SEs at Motorwerks Mini (my dealer), which includes two Resolute Edition SEs I saw on the lot.

 

We have basically zero insight into Cooper SE numbers, so it's impossible to say... but if MINI was under-estimating Cooper SE popularity in the states (which I've heard from a few different places), it makes sense that there would be supply constraints until they could make adjustments to their production allocation figures. Combine that with external supply chain constraints due to COVID-19 and a war in Ukraine (where their wire harnesses are made), and, well... you get basically what we've seen on dealer lots.

The only real clue we have from MINI is that they axed the lowest tier trim. You don't do that unless you have too much interest and not enough production. They're re-introducing that lowest-tier trim for 2024, so clearly the supply/demand balance has evened out a little better. That could be due to lower demand (higher interest rates, no tax credit, etc.), higher supply (more production, fewer supply chain issues, etc.), or some combination of the two.

I mean, no manufacturer wants it to be difficult to test drive a car they're trying to sell. So, more inventory on dealer lots (to a certain degree) isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

I am pretty sure the small range and lack of credit hit it hard. Lets not forget the SE is competing against an ICE that gets great mileage and is identical looking, identical inside, identical but for the propulsion system.

The TFL car has a MSRP of about 37k, so it sold for 22k which is about 60% of what it would cost new. That's a big hit for a year and a half and 14k miles. If the new ones are discounted 10% from 37 to say 33 we could say the TFL car went for about 66% of a new one. Is a one third hit is more in line in today's market?

 

It's hard to say without know the MINI SE lease residuals in the USA. If you use the 1% monthly MSRP depreciation estimate, then it could be 18-19% depreciated. Now with TFL in CO, I believe they managed to get the $2,000 state rebate as well?

I'm going to go on a limb and say Tommy bought the car personally (Aug 2021), claimed the tax credits and then sold the car to TFL Corp. at fair market value AFTER April 2022 tax filing. Honestly I don't think they lost any money selling at $22k with the business write offs.

 

My dealer has a used 2021 Iconic SE with 7,000 miles listed for $30,500. I don't think they'd be listing it that high if sales were a problem.

 

This 15,379-mile used 2021 SE on ebay is in Newberg, Oregon. This listing and the listing on the seller's website fail to mention the trim level, but it appears to be a Signature, based on the Revolite rims. MSRP was $29,900 and the Buy-It-Now price is $28,350.

Pass.

 

Did it actually sell for $22k? I was under the impression the reserve hadn't been met at that price. Truly disappointing if that's all it's worth as we have an identical used one that we paid $37k for in July.
ETA: it only had 3500 miles on it though.

 

Let's be honest, TFLbids is a niche site if ever there was one. They had a 2013 GP top out at less than $11k bid ... meanwhile, on proper auction sites, this one sold for $24k a year earlier and this one went for $21k a year before that. Clearly, TFLbids does not exactly set market prices.

 

The effect on me was to drop my order for a more expensive EV, for which the federal tax credit was no longer available, and to get an SE instead. I'm probably not the only person who opted to purchase a cheaper EV.

I'll be ever thankful to the person on the solterra forum who mentioned that there was an electric MINI.

Now if only Subaru, with their change in management in both Japan and SOA, would create a modern, electric Subaru 360, in Subaru Blue.

 

It does look good but then so do the thousands of other green with whiter roof Cooper SE's in the wild. For the huge amount of choice most owners gravitate towards remarkably similar specifications, red, green, moonwalk (before it was discontinued).

 

Wow, way to burst my bubble. Here, I thought it was a custom paint color that BMW created just for me.