Most people aren’t thinking about convertibles in the dead of winter, but so far the weather has actually been pretty nice where we are at in California. MINI is taking the opportunity to announce pricing information on the new Roadster, a sure seller during the spring and summer months.
Last year the Countryman and Coupe made their debuts, and this year it is the Roadster’s turn. It marks a continued expansion into new territory for MINI. The Coupe and Roadster aren’t all that different looking from the standard hardtop and Convertible models of the MINI, but they are considerably more sporty (and less practical, if you care about that kind of thing). For one thing, the rear seat also goes the way of the dodo – they are two seaters.
The Coupe’s pricing was announced a while ago, coming in at $22,000. The Roadster will set you back a good bit more than that – $24,655 with a standard manual. Opting for an automatic transmission will add $1,250 more to the total. With the Roadster, MINI has stuck with the traditional industry standard of cutting off the top and charging more money. It’s a winning combination for profitability, that’s for sure. The Roadster comes in a few hundred dollars short of the Convertible model though.
It’ll be interesting to see if Convertible sales suffer all that much. If they do go down significantly, it is will be clear that cannibalization is going on rather than a sales expansion. If you opt for the top-shelf John Cooper Works model, pricing will come in at $34,500. Not cheap!
MINI says the car has been tuned to provide “go kart handling.” We bet the JCW model would be a lot of fun to toss around – too bad it dings the register so badly. The Roadster’s 1.6-liter four-cylinder is offered in three power guises; 121 horsepower standard, 181 hp for the Cooper S and 208 hp for the JCW.
