George A

Yup... There were several threads here about it a long time ago.

G.

SMehder

There have been several comments at some MINI sites, as you would expect. Some have suggested making this a charity event, with the loser paying $1,000 per second to the winner's charity of choice. Do that and Porsche could not possibly refuse.

Falcondrivr

I think Porsche played it right. Where would it end? Cobalt vs. Porsche? Smart For Two vs. Porsche?
The downside for us is; now every kid in a MINI is going to want to drag at every stoplight...

Reddy Kilowatt

Badly played by Porsche, IMO. There were dozens of ways to respond that could be lighthearted and fun, and defuse the situation. How about a video response along the lines of 'I'm sorry, but we're busy that weekend. Do come over to my house though, and we'll have a beer." Put together a video montage that pays homage to the racing pedigree of both Porsche and MINI. Don't play the "racing vs posing" card. Talk about an uptight, stick up your butt, no-fun dorky response. Look at the factory options list for Porsche and tell me whether there's any posing involved in that.

Canyon56

Exactly.

SMehder

The battle continues....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrFCW...layer_embedded

Also, to capitalize on the event/non-event, MINI may offer a commemorative model set.

Being both a Porsche and MINI owner, it is tough to take sides, but I appauld MINI's marketing. If you watched any of the 24 hours of LeMans, you may have seen the commercial with Audi taking a stab at BMW.

bart1

I don't recall seeing that one, but I loved the one from last year or so where they took a stab at Ferrari.

bobesser

In the model set, are the cars to scale? I figured the 997 would be observably bigger than the MINI. They seem about the same size!

Reddy Kilowatt

^997 looks way bigger to me.

bobesser

Just watched the response video. It is getting pretty lame at this point. The first challenge was great. This one, not so much. The MINI challenge was answered by the Porsche challenge (meet us a regular sanctioned event). MINI answered with a salami of the month club (BS).

Reddy Kilowatt

Agreed. LAME.

cabrio993

I think MINI may be pushing it a bit now... I thought that the original ad was witty and a great marketing stunt. But, now with this second video, they are coming across like total tools. (Or since it's MINI, it should be TOOLS)

race911

Has anyone asked why BMW is resorting to this? I stopped in a MINI dealer to kill some time last week; vaguely thinking about picking up something more of a car than the smart is for running around. I could hardly park in the lot from all the unsold inventory. They had a few leftover '09's, too. The 2nd generation car is nice, but when I spec'd out an S convertible I was near $35K!?!?!?!? Far cry from this ~$16K '05 Boxster I stumbled across on Saturday....................

matt777

Its pretty simple....what would you rather own? I really don't think anyone is cross shopping Porsche vs Mini anyway. The same applies to the old 'vette vs Porsche comparison. In addition, if BMW's general lack of interest in fixing vehicle issues is the same as with my local dealer, a Mini would be the one of my last small car selections.

RJT

<THUMBS UP>






Their PR department can do better than that.....


I do like the plane that was flying over PCNA in Atlanta today though. That's some funny poop!






MINI Scottsdale is packed with people every weekend. Maybe it's a location thing? There are still cheap MINI's but they are Stock and not S's that's for sure. I just built my next one (since I can't find the 993 I want as a DD ) and it came to 28 grand with everything I want and need and it's under warranty.



A Stock MINI S can't beat a Stock 997 S and MINI knows it. It's just marketing, and they need to stop now, unless they can come up something a little more witty again.