WHAT, NO NEW MINIS IN TEXAS???!!!!

Apparently there will be no texas dealers allowed to sell new Minis, unless they get them "bootleg style". Reason.......well, BMW told all tx. dealerships that they must build new facilities to accomedate their new SUV.this included, sales and service dept. All the Tx. dealers got together and took BMW to court and the tx. dealers won. Mad at the dealers, BMW said no Minis for you : :

I heard they have to build a seperate showroom, plus sell mini merchandise and specially train staff. Seems a bit much. I am sure some lightly used ones will show up quickly.

I saw one on eBay from Texas just today.

This comment about a "dedicated Mini building" seems to be correct. Our local BMW dealer converted a nearby gas station to it's "Mini dealership" and Princeton Mini (near the University) also uses a dedicated "Mini dealership building" (I passed them both last week). I've heard that the Mini might pull away customers from the lower-end "3" series customers if they were side-by-side in the same dealership.....in my case, I think the "3" series is a nice car but I think the Mini has much more "curb appeal".

Ive heard the same thing about "dedicated Mini stores" and it reminded me of a column Jamie Kitman wrote several years back in CAR, when BMW still owned The English Patient....er, I mean Rover. Bernd P. (cant spell his last name) is a huge British car nut, and was always going on about reintroducing British makes to the States. Most people thought this was a stupid idea-Americans only want MGs and Triumphs, blah blah blah, nobody knows what a Rover is, etc. Kitman suggested that BMW get a good line of "British" cars together, and sell them in dedicated "British Car Dealerships" allied with existing BMW stores. Sell merchandise, etc., a whole cultural thing. I thought it was a great idea (still do), and Kitman said (rightly I guess) that it was just like "import" car stores back in the sixties-they sold all sorts of stuff through the same showroom. Naturally BMW has sort of gone ahead and done it with the MINI dealerships.
-William

I agree William. I always enjoyed going to the specialty British car shops in the 60's. Maybe picking up a key fob etc. Perhaps, the MGF, Mini and possibly the new Healey, could also be sold there.
Johnny, 59bn7, 75mgb