I just came back from a two week trip to China. Two weeks in Wuxi, a "small" city of 3+ million. I decided to amuse myself by searching for MINI dealers and generally seeking all things MINI. Found two dealers in Wuxi. Talked to the sales people and got pricing. A standard MINI S hatch is 359,000 yuan.=> $57,000 USD. Whoa! The JCW is not legal in China. Here are some photos....
A few more pics ... This one is a Countryman I saw in Shanghai near the Bund.... Actually seeing the MINIs made me feel a little less isolated.....
The Chinese MINI dealer was as interested in the MINI scene in the US as I was interested in them.... Very cool that MINI transcends cultures and languages....
Yeah... Crazy expensive...which explains why I saw only one S. I saw many more MINI ONE models....which is a stripped down Justa.
I'm not surprised by the pricing. We've visited the MINI dealer in Manila, Philippines, and found the same thing (prices twice what the US pricing is). Also looked into importing a car into the Philippines. Unless the automaker has a manufacturing plant in the Philippines, they have to pay 100% import duty (also applies if you import a vehicle). Toyota is the most popular vehicle, and they have an assembly plant in the Philippines (for one model of minivan), so they aren't hit by the import duty. BMW does not have a manufacturing/assembly plant, so they have to pay the duty. I expect this is the same in many countries.