The clip above features Jim McDowell, Vice-President of MINI US, being interviewed by CNBC about the news MINI will be opening 17 new dealerships across the United States over the next 18 months. That’s on the back of being just one of two companies in the US to increase sales over the course of 2008. Well, that’s the good news.
The bad news is that MINI has just been ranked last in the most recent JD Power survey on Initial Quality. Watch McDowell try and shift the focus with some very average analogies about loving your wife. A future in politics awaits, no doubt!
[Source: MotoringFile]
3 replies on “Do you want the good news, or the bad news?”
I think it was a reasonable comment to be honest they are one of the most recommended cars amongst owners as he said and Mini along with other european or more boutique or prestige brands that sell at a premium over competing cars in the segment often get complained about more when the car has problems from day one as they feel “hey i paid top dollar why am i having to deal with this bs”. But when looked at over the whole life of the car the initial grumbles are well forgotten when the car proves itself a step above the competition.
my usual comment about the JDPower surveys applies yet again…. the buyer of something like a Porsche or MINI actually gives a shit about their car, and hence will bring up any little tiny issue with their car, whereas the purchaser of a vehicular appliance (camry, hyundai, etc) probably doesn’t even know which wheels drive it, and doesn’t even notice the ‘issues’ that may be complained about by the purchaser of a more ‘interesting’ car.
These ‘complaints’ by the purchaser of the more interesting car then show up as a negative on the JDPower survey. It’s an incredibly flawed methodology in my unhumble opinion.
My complaint is with the way the CNBC video has all that white space above it. I wish JD Power did a survey on that!