- Leases are expiring on the original 450 leases to drive Mini's battery-powered Mini E in a pilot program.
- BMW offered another year-long lease: Half jumped at the offer.
- Second-year lease, cheaper than original, runs out about the time the production all-electric Mini will launch.
PHILADELPHIA — OK, not everything is perfect about Mini's battery-powered Mini E being tested by some 450 people leasing the car in the pilot program's metro-markets of Los Angeles and New York (including Inside Line). But the all-electric Mini E's attributes must outweigh the foibles: Half of the current Mini E lessees have told BMW they want to sign up for another year-long lease.
Rich Steinberg, BMW North America Inc.'s manager for electric vehicle operations and strategy, said in an update about the Mini E test program at a BMW press event here that the program's initial one-year lease term is ending and around half of those currently leasing told the company they want to renew for another year.
He said BMW is not offering the renewal deal to fleet users, only to individual lessees. And there's an upside for those renewing: The original $850-per-month Mini E lease is being cut to $600 per month for the second year.
Steinberg said BMW is happy so many customers have been happy enough about their Mini E experience to sign on for another year. And he said the second one-year lease is perfect to transition these enthusiastic electric-car early adopters to the mid-2011 introduction of the production version of the Mini E, a car that everyone hopes will not be as expensive to purchase.
Inside Line says: It seems real testimony that despite a high-dollar lease, half of Mini E drivers want to renew their lease. Maybe all-electric driving isn't for everybody, but the Mini E makes it pretty entertaining for just about anybody. — Bill Visnic, Senior Editor, Edmunds AutoObserver.com
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kernals12 says:
04:58 PM, 05/15/2010
tomm250, maybe they changed their minds between when they last spoke to you mini e owners and when this article was posted
tomm250 says:
09:28 PM, 05/14/2010
kernals12: The MINI-E was never going to be a production car, we were told that from the start and every time BMW has talked to us privately and publically that has been the line. BMW will sell an EV in 2013 temporarally named the Megacity. Megacity will be a sub-brand of BMW that will eventually offer more than one EV.
BMW's stance on the MINI brand is that it is already very fuel efficient, plus it seems that they want thier EV to bear a BMW badge. Who knows what the future holds, but you will not see a MINI EV for quite some time. Sombody got thier wires crossed with the announcement above. It should have said the second year lease ends when the BMW ActiveE electric car trial begins.
Tom M
MINI-E #250
http://minie250.blogspot.com/
kernals12 says:
12:49 PM, 05/14/2010
tomm250,
how do you know the Mini E isn't going into production?
compressor says:
08:25 AM, 05/14/2010
Maybe it due to the Leaf coming out.
dagmar3 says:
07:21 AM, 05/14/2010
The 450 people who signed up for the original list were not exactly representative of the population; rather, they are rapid, greener-than-thou eco-philes who will put up with a lot of inconvenience in exchange for smug points. My sister, for example.
The rest of the car buying world is ignoring the Mini E, along with half of the lessees who are now over it.
jeremy_c says:
06:35 AM, 05/14/2010
49% is a fail and 50% is barely a passing grade! Nothing to brag about.
jeremy_c says:
06:33 AM, 05/14/2010
Huh? With 50% of the lessee "going for it", it really does not tell us anything. You can also interpret it in a negative way such that half of Mini-E lessee don't want to renew. It's like the weather man telling us there is 50% chance of rain. LOL!
tomm250 says:
08:07 PM, 05/13/2010
"Second-year lease, cheaper than original, runs out about the time the production all-electric Mini will launch."
That is not correct. There is not going to be an all-electric MINI launch. The electric MINI program was for research purposes only and will not go into production.
The second year MINI-E lease will run out when the all electric BMW test car called the ActiveE program begins. It will be a similar lease program and will test the actual hardware that will be used in the 2013 BMW Megacity EV. The Megacity will be the first BMW EV that will actually be in showrooms for sale.
MINI-E drivers that continue for the second year(like I am) will be offerd the opportunity to lease an ActiveE.
Tom M
MINI-E #250 @ 30,100 miles
http://minie250.blogspot.com/
smihal says:
07:06 PM, 05/13/2010
@kernals12
If the car were "850 a month impressive" as you put it, then everyone would have gladly signed on at 600. I don't mean to bash the mini E, but I think the results would have been different at 750-850 per month. With a 30% reduction in payments I would expect more takers. There is no debating that some only re-signed due to the lower price. Just as some would have stayed on at the same price, or even if they charged more.
@Cheerful_1
I agree 600 is still not cheap to most people, but for those who can afford 850 it is.
kernals12 says:
05:56 PM, 05/13/2010
to smihal, maybe the original Mini E was 850 a month impressive let alone 600 a month impressive