Automotive News - February 22, 2016 - 33

FEBRUARY 22, 2016 * 33

Mini uses TV to cultivate 'mature brand' image

Mini will pull back from last year's TV
spend and pour more money into digital
marketing - not social media, but customer relationship marketing, Duncan said.
The customer relationship marketing will
"drive more traffic to the Tier 3 websites and
directly to the dealers," Duncan said.
Mini has been in the United States since
2002 but potential buyers "do not realize we
also have a four-door and all-wheel drive or

a convertible," Duncan said. "We need people to understand we are out there and start
putting us on their shopping list."
To raise awareness, Mini used celebrities.
It advertised its Countryman crossover with
Tony Hawk, the skateboard champion, and
his four sons. "We demonstrated it was a car
that could be used as a serious car for family
purposes," Duncan said.
"You would not have thought a man with

his four sons would fit into a Mini. That
starts to tell a little bit of that breadth story
- that we are not just a two-door car."
Other TV commercials featured every car
in the lineup for the first time, a strategy that
will again be used in 2016, Duncan said.
"This concept to Defy Labels is what Mini
has always been. We did not abandon anything."
"In the past, people would have never expected Mini to have so much interior space,
and no one would have expected it to be a
performance car and do well on the racetrack," he said.
Mini skipped this year's Detroit auto show
but will debut the John Cooper Works version of the redesigned 2016 Mini convertible
at the New York auto show. The redesigned
convertible goes on sale in March. The higher performance model goes on sale in April.
Mini sold 58,514 cars in 2015 in the U.S.,
up 4.3 percent from 2014, and could have
sold more if gasoline prices hadn't fallen,
said Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW AG board
member for Mini.
"What happens if gas prices go up to $3 or
$4? Mini will explode." c

saying, 'I like the design and the concept,
but give me more room and four doors so I
can get into the back seats more easily.'"
Mini will launch a plug-in hybrid in the
next two years, he said. Schwarzenbauer
would not say which car would get the plugin hybrid variant, but added that "we have
the technology available."
An electric car is also in the planning
stage, but much depends on progress in battery technology, he said. "Mini is the urban
brand," he added. "Long term, we will see a
lot of electric mobility in the urban environment. Mini definitely needs one."
Schwarzenbauer said he does not expect a

significant jump in sales of the 2016 convertible that was launched here. "We have seen
in the last 10 years that the convertible segment worldwide is very stable. If you want to
grow, you have to win market share."
"It will grow because this car is so much
better, but we do not expect big growth," he
said.
The redesigned convertible is 4.5 inches
longer, 1.7 inches wider and 0.8 inches taller
than the outgoing version. Powertrain options are two BMW engines: a 1.5-liter threecylinder turbo with 134 hp and a 2.0-liter
four-cylinder turbo with 189 hp. A high-performance John Cooper Works model will get

a turbo four-cylinder engine with 228 hp.
The engines can be mated to a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission.
The convertible is the latest Mini to benefit from the use of BMW engines and transmissions. "Compared to smaller compact
cars from manufacturers," BMW technology
elevates Mini into a more premium segment, Schwarzenbauer said.
The 2016 Cooper is $250 more than the
outgoing model with a base price of $26,800
and goes on sale in March. The high-performance John Cooper Works debuts in April
and has a base price of $36,450. Both prices
include shipping. c

the state's secretary of commerce.
Hitt noted last week that foreign-owned
companies now employ 115,000 workers in
the state. Robert Bosch employs 1,200
people at a high-tech sensor plant in
Anderson and this month announced an
expansion of its hydraulics plant in
Fountain Inn, where it employs 700.
South Carolina now leads the nation in
the production of tires, thanks in large part
to recent investments by Germany's
Continental Tire and France's Michelin.
Michelin's North American headquarters is in
Greenville, a city where the influence of
Michelin and BMW is unmistakable.
Downtown Greenville now has some of the

hallmarks of a European city, with bistros and
cafes along a pedestrian-friendly cityscape.
Changing attitudes
won't be so easy. A media
report just before the
GOP primary cited a
Public Policy Polling
survey that found 70
percent of Donald
Trump's South Carolina
supporters believe the
Haley: Ushering Confederate flag should
in change
still be flying above the
state house.
The polarizing symbol was hastily
removed from the state house grounds last

summer at the urging of South Carolina's
conservative governor, Nikki Haley,
following an apparently racially motivated
massacre at a Charleston church.
Like the automotive companies she
continues to welcome, Haley herself is a
symbolic newcomer. Though born in the
state, she is a first-generation American, the
daughter of immigrants from India.
Her quick removal of the Confederate flag
last year shows that - regardless of
personal political views - newcomers
invariably bring change.

With the high-definition inputs, the available 120-volt electrical outlets and FCA's
onboard wireless connectivity, back-seat
passengers can play gaming systems such as
Microsoft's Xbox One, said Aamir Ahmed,
FCA's Uconnect marketing manager. In its
Pacifica displays at the Detroit and Chicago
auto shows, Chrysler demonstrated Uconnect Theater with an Xbox One.
"What's nice is that, with the Stow 'n Go
seating, you can actually put the game system down in the [seat] storage area so that
it's out of the way," Ahmed said.
Chrysler's engineers also redesigned the
Pacifica's Stow 'n Go seats, making them
easier to stow and improving entry to the
third row.
The new stowing mechanism, supplied by
Magna, uses a button on the interior B-pillar
to automatically push forward the front-row
seat. That allows the second-row seat to collapse into the storage well with a gentle onehanded assist.

The redesign also incorporates a pivoting
mechanism that allows the second-row seat
to tilt forward for easier access to the third
row, even if a child seat is attached. In the
Pacifica's predecessor, the 2016 Chrysler
Town & Country, moving into the third row
would require removing the safety seat or
climbing over it.
Chrysler, which invented the minivan segment 33 years ago, has never stopped experimenting with its people mover. In the last
decade, it tried swivel second-row seats
coupled with an available table that would
allow rear passengers to play games together while traveling. It also did an innovative
deal with satellite TV providers that beamed
certain live TV into the rear cabin. Both efforts were abandoned, however.
Production of the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica is
scheduled to begin at FCA's Windsor Assembly plant next week. Pricing has not yet
been announced. c

Diana T. Kurylko

Tennis pro Serena
Williams is one of
the stars featured in
Mini's "Defy Labels"
TV commercial that
aired during the Super
Bowl. Says Mini of the
Americas boss David
Duncan: "When you
are needing to build
awareness as a brand,
one of the best
platforms is
television."

dkurylko@crain.com

OS ANGELES - Mini spent more than
half of its record marketing budget last
year on TV to build awareness, says
its top U.S. executive.
It's part of the new strategy to portray Mini
as a more "mature brand" and attract new
buyers, said David Duncan, vice president
of Mini of the Americas, in an interview at
the launch of the convertible here.
Mini is trying to expand its appeal - hence
the "Defy Labels" Super Bowl spot that featured a variety of stars including tennis pro
Serena Williams and actor Harvey Keitel.
The "Defy Labels" theme will continue
with TV spots for the next three months and
then Mini will advertise the next-generation, larger Clubman wagon, Duncan said.
"When you are needing to build awareness as a brand, one of the best platforms is
television," he said.
Mini would not disclose its marketing budget but according to Kantar Media, the brand
spent $32 million in 2014 and $34 million
through September of last year. Kantar said
figures for all of 2015 are not yet available.

MINI
Exec: Plug-in hybrid
to launch in next 2 years
continued from Page 4

The redesigned Countryman is expected to
debut this year and go on sale in the United
States in 2017. It will not grow substantially
in size, just a few inches like the redesigned
hardtops and convertible, Schwarzenbauer
said. "People are happy with it."
It wasn't so with the previous-generation
Clubman, he said: "We got a lot of feedback

S. CAROLINA
Downtown Greenville
offers a taste of Europe
continued from Page 4

local support for free-trade pacts and deeper
international ties. In pre-BMW South
Carolina, the then-dominant textile industry
wanted no part of chummy foreign relations.
The BMW-Volvo-Mercedes threesome is
also expected to draw a new wave of
European auto suppliers into the state,
keeping life busy for Bobby Hitt, the former
BMW public relations manager who is now

PACIFICA
'Are We There Yet?' app
updates location, ETA
continued from Page 4

not been announced.
The two screens can show the same program via a built-in Blu-ray player in the
front-row instrument cluster, or can show
separate programs using USB or high-definition multimedia interface inputs on the
seat backs just below the screens. Two sets
of wireless headphones are included in the
Uconnect Theater system, as well as input
jacks for wired headsets.
Each screen contains a series of eight familiar traveling games, including tic-tactoe, back-seat bingo, checkers and a mapbased touch version of license plate bingo.
The screens come with a remote control
that has a gesture area, allowing users to

Ahmed: Back-seat passengers can play
systems such as Microsoft's Xbox One.
control the touch screen if they are, say, restricted by the five-point harness of a child
safety seat.
A new app - called "Are We There Yet?" -
ties into the Pacifica's navigation system to
provide location and time-until-arrival information to back-seat passengers.

You may email Lindsay Chappell
at lchappell@crain.com.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - February 22, 2016

Jitters over $1 billion EV factory
Cadillac's De Nysschen pitches virtual stores
Suits target price-fixing parts makers
Wounded TrueCar outlines recovery steps
Forget Internet marketing, many dealers still prefer traditional media
Tell us about retail high achievers under 40
Biggest 2017 Pacifica innovations are in back seats
How the car industry is changing S. Carolina
Mini's 5th "superhero' could be a compact sedan
Lexus overhauls hybrid system
Infiniti widens its array of engines
V90 will be 3rd Volvo with modular architecture
SVR is the fastest F-Type ever
Mercedes won't offer an E-class diesel until 2018
Alfa Giulia models to debut in Geneva
Calif. dealers, JLR fight over exports
Chevy brings menace to its movie marketing
Wheel chocks are nothing new
Federal officials, manufacturers must lead on recall solutions
We need answers on inflator failures
Agreed: Reform is urgent
Tough choices on the Oregon Trail
Dealership: Nissan's at odds with Fla. franchise law
VW led auto r&d spending in '15
Dealership group, staff split costs of tablets
Yanfeng: "Consolidation will go on'
Spring Hill to make V-8 engines for GM trucks John Irwin
Suppliers' forecast: Sunny days ahead
Challenge for Microsoft: Could we get more work done in our cars? (Should we?)
Will Calif. drive out the self-driving vehicle?
Dealer anniversaries
Riccardo's fwd bet was 'courageous choice'
Hyundai Ioniq targets Prius, but not in sales
Ola Kaellenius rises in race to replace Zetsche at Daimler
Hyundai taps Raphael as first Genesis chief
Soaring on the wings of the snowbirds
Cadillac pledges makeover money, ends holdback
Mini uses TV to cultivate 'mature brand' image
High-performance vehicles will be on parade at Geneva extravaganza
Chrysler's tireless CEO does his best to ward off disaster
Straight talk showed Ford chairman to the door
Nissan's self-parking tech brings order to the office
Ford nabs GM town's police cruiser contract
Kid-size Tesla: "Flight speed' batteries, working headlights and even a "frunk'

Automotive News - February 22, 2016