My dealer has just informed me that it's time to place my order. I had Carbon Black on my e39 M5 and my e46 M3 and I absolutely love the color. Does anyone know if we can order Individual colors in the US, and what the price premium is?
BMW Individual possible in US?
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US dealers generally won't do a Euro delivery on an M5. They lose the allocation and money. You don't save any money, as there is no discount. Also, the Individual program is a separate thing, and BMWNA so far isn't accepting Individual orders on the M5, no matter how the US car is delivered.philippe said:
...in my continual battles with BMW NA and their lack of support for Individual program as well as other things, this is their latest response a week ago:
"Thank you for contacting BMW of North America, LLC again. I am sorry
if our name mislead you, in essence, we are BMW of the United States.
We are not BMW of Canada or BMW of Mexico.
BMW of Canada and BMW of Mexico have their own BMW groups which retail
vehicles. BMW of North America, LLC does not offer the Individual
ordering program on our vehicles. We are currently retailing the BMW M5,
production began for United States specifications of this model earlier
this month.
We appreciate your comments and are sorry that we cannot meet your
needs at this time. If you have any further questions, please respond to
this e-mail or contact the Customer Relations and Services Department at
1-800-831-1117, Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.,
Eastern Standard Time. "
"Thank you for contacting BMW of North America, LLC again. I am sorry
if our name mislead you, in essence, we are BMW of the United States.
We are not BMW of Canada or BMW of Mexico.
BMW of Canada and BMW of Mexico have their own BMW groups which retail
vehicles. BMW of North America, LLC does not offer the Individual
ordering program on our vehicles. We are currently retailing the BMW M5,
production began for United States specifications of this model earlier
this month.
We appreciate your comments and are sorry that we cannot meet your
needs at this time. If you have any further questions, please respond to
this e-mail or contact the Customer Relations and Services Department at
1-800-831-1117, Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.,
Eastern Standard Time. "
That's funny. I wrote a priority email to them (the first email I sent was unaswered, or lost, or something), and they wrote back the normal non-response that I must contact my dealer for information on the Individual program. I was requesting an exception to their current ruling that Individual is not allowed on US cars. I have argued with BMWNA that this normal response to contact the dealer is not acceptable...to pass the buck of responsibility for my question to the dealer. If they feel the dealer should be handling the inquiry, BMWNA should take ownership of the issue, contact my dealer with the answer, and have the dealer contact me.m630 said:...in my continual battles with BMW NA and their lack of support for Individual program as well as other things, this is their latest response a week ago:
BMW of North America, LLC does not offer the Individual
ordering program on our vehicles.
Of course, as usual, the dealer says that it is up to BMWNA, and that BMWNA needs to be contacted. Thanks BMWNA for your usual great customer support. The dealer simply does not have the answers. If you might give the dealer the support and answers they require, then I might be able to go to the dealer for information. Is something broken in this arrangement? Absolutely!
Meanwhile, BMWNA, can the customer get a straight answer on the question? I have tried the normal channels. They don't work.
Hello BMW...Do you care?
...its just crazy the run around we get here, it makes no logical, or business sense, imho, that BMW NA does not allow 'Individual' purchases...I can completely understand if they would not allow Individual on a lease as they would be stuck with a possibly undesirable color combo, but for us owners who are purchasing (finance or cash) our cars, why the hell cant we pay for additional options and color combos???? if there is to be a loss due to the combo, it will be purely ours, not the dealer network...those fortunate to be able to order an Individual pay a nice premium for these options and I cant understand why BMW would not want the additonal revenue generation opportunity here...its really a rediculous situation
thanks as always, BMW NA :nono:
thanks as always, BMW NA :nono:
Tom Purves will get a Individual BMW this year. BMW M is doing a small test of a select few cars that are Individual to the USA, and then for next year Individual might be possible for USA.
It ll has to do with the pattern of US buyers: alot of owners tend to change their colour specs a few weeks before production, now this is impossible with Individual, since Individual must be specced well in advance.
However BMW M knows the problem and are working on it.
It ll has to do with the pattern of US buyers: alot of owners tend to change their colour specs a few weeks before production, now this is impossible with Individual, since Individual must be specced well in advance.
However BMW M knows the problem and are working on it.
This does not seem to be a reasonable excuse. They simply can prohibit changes to specifications at whatever stage they decide. If they need some kind of security, they can require sizeable deposits. Also, it is hard to believe that US customers are that much more fickle that those in other countries.Gustav said:
MRichmond: I agree on the issue with deposit: I regret that I didnt follow up Mr Bruhnke directly on this and told him that thereare several customers that could pay maybe up to 100% deposit just to get Individual.
Yes, I really don't understand why USA cannot meet this. Maybe its a demand issue: they won't have the resources to do say 30% Individual M5.
Yes, I really don't understand why USA cannot meet this. Maybe its a demand issue: they won't have the resources to do say 30% Individual M5.
I agree - this can't be the reason. It sounds like there are quite a few of us who would do individual if we were offered the option. This is an expensive car, many people are willing to pay a bit more to get what they want. Certainly, it would benefit everyone if we were given more options.MRichmond said:
Perhaps it a timing and logistics problem- maybe they have looked at the order pipeline and decided that to based on previous US ordering behaviour it would not be a simple matter to build a high percentage of custom orders - it would be interesting to know if and by how much an individual spec car - deviates in time and processs from a standard m5.
It may simply not be efficent in the early roll out stage of the M5 to have too high a mix of standard and "deviant" cars.
There must be someone out there who can explain the production differences (time,complexity,cost) between cars coming down the standard production run and cars with individual specification.
I expect when first stage orders have been met, we'll see BMW's line soften and they will start offering individual.
Although I know from someone (not an American) involved in the food business in the US, that he resents some people in the US view that a menu or list of choices is often viewed as an indication of what they might order, rather then a definitive list of what they can order.
It may simply not be efficent in the early roll out stage of the M5 to have too high a mix of standard and "deviant" cars
. There must be someone out there who can explain the production differences (time,complexity,cost) between cars coming down the standard production run and cars with individual specification.
I expect when first stage orders have been met, we'll see BMW's line soften and they will start offering individual.
Although I know from someone (not an American) involved in the food business in the US, that he resents some people in the US view that a menu or list of choices is often viewed as an indication of what they might order, rather then a definitive list of what they can order.
I am willing to wait to see if BMW NA gets its act together with Individual. This is a dream car for me and I want it to be exactly as I want it. Time will tell.
m5-black said:Perhaps it a timing and logistics problem- maybe they have looked at the order pipeline and decided that to based on previous US ordering behaviour it would not be a simple matter to build a high percentage of custom orders - it would be interesting to know if and by how much an individual spec car - deviates in time and processs from a standard m5.
It may simply not be efficent in the early roll out stage of the M5 to have too high a mix of standard and "deviant" cars
There must be someone out there who can explain the production differences (time,complexity,cost) between cars coming down the standard production run and cars with individual specification.
I expect when first stage orders have been met, we'll see BMW's line soften and they will start offering individual.
Although I know from someone (not an American) involved in the food business in the US, that he resents some people in the US view that a menu or list of choices is often viewed as an indication of what they might order, rather then a definitive list of what they can order.
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As I understand it, BMW-M in Garching does both the M cars and the Individual cars, in fact I've read that the Individual program grew out of the M facility. From what I've read on this and other boards, what the U.S. customers are typically asking for from Individual are often what is offered as somewhat normal options for Europeans (such as extended Merino leather, debadging, Individual "standard" colors, etc.).
So, I'm not sure how much stock to put into the statement "...they won't have the resources to do say 30% Individual M5" since the M cars are pulled off the production line in Dingolfling and go to Garching to "become" M cars anyway. Especially when its looks like a lot of the European M5/M6 cars are getting extended leather and so on.
I get the distinct impression BMWNA are dragging their feet, not the folks in Garching. Maybe BMWNA does not have computerized ordering support for it and these days the dealers can only order and update options via the compute. My salesman tells me of the "old days" before the strict computerized system when they could have custom changes made (nothing to do the with the Individual program). But not for a couple of years now.
I sent an email to a guy in marketing at BMW-M a couple of weeks ago (which followed up my in-person visit to BMW-M in July during an ED) and I was cc'ed today when he forwarded my email to another person at Individual for action. So, I hope to have a number of questions answered soon as to what is possible (colors, custom wood veneer, etc.) from a production standpoint. This does not mean that BMWNA will let me order such a car even if BMW-M says they can build it (a 650Ci in this case). But you can bet that if BMW-M says they can build it, I will try like hell to get BMWNA to go along with it!!!
Any yes, I normally lease, but I'd be willing to purchase for an Individual car to put that lease turn-in issue to rest.
I'll be sure to post on the board what kind of answers I get from BMW-M/Individual.
So, I'm not sure how much stock to put into the statement "...they won't have the resources to do say 30% Individual M5" since the M cars are pulled off the production line in Dingolfling and go to Garching to "become" M cars anyway. Especially when its looks like a lot of the European M5/M6 cars are getting extended leather and so on.
I get the distinct impression BMWNA are dragging their feet, not the folks in Garching. Maybe BMWNA does not have computerized ordering support for it and these days the dealers can only order and update options via the compute. My salesman tells me of the "old days" before the strict computerized system when they could have custom changes made (nothing to do the with the Individual program). But not for a couple of years now.
I sent an email to a guy in marketing at BMW-M a couple of weeks ago (which followed up my in-person visit to BMW-M in July during an ED) and I was cc'ed today when he forwarded my email to another person at Individual for action. So, I hope to have a number of questions answered soon as to what is possible (colors, custom wood veneer, etc.) from a production standpoint. This does not mean that BMWNA will let me order such a car even if BMW-M says they can build it (a 650Ci in this case). But you can bet that if BMW-M says they can build it, I will try like hell to get BMWNA to go along with it!!!
Any yes, I normally lease, but I'd be willing to purchase for an Individual car to put that lease turn-in issue to rest.
I'll be sure to post on the board what kind of answers I get from BMW-M/Individual.
This is nonsense. I have specced a Individual exteriour and interiour (Mineral Silver metalic / Merino Platin) for my M6. I have seen this color combo on a regular 6 series and it looks great I have an appointment at the Inidvidual center in germany next month (didn't fit my schedule any earlier) to look at some other colors.Gustav said:
I also said to my dealer that because of somethings going on in my life rightnow I want an option to cancel the order or maybe have it delivered to another country at anytime.
Eventhough I originaly specified an Individual color, eventhough I said maybe I would want to change the color and eventhough I said that I want an option to cancel the order, the dealer said that it wouldn't present any problem as long as the car doesn't go into production.
So yes this is a BS reason.
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I have also been experiencing similar frustrations with BMW NA. My E60 M5 is scheduled to be built in November. I ordered the car without the badges and the top speed limiter. BMW says they will not remove the top speed limiter and there is not a badge delete option. The diesels are breaking 150 mph...give me a break!!! I want this car to be able to run with the big dogs. I think I may postpone my order until the manual transmission is available. Maybe by then the car can be optioned as requested. Will e28,e34,e39 M5's
QUOTE=Gustav]Tom Purves will get a Individual BMW this year. BMW M is doing a small test of a select few cars that are Individual to the USA, and then for next year Individual might be possible for USA.
It ll has to do with the pattern of US buyers: alot of owners tend to change their colour specs a few weeks before production, now this is impossible with Individual, since Individual must be specced well in advance.
However BMW M knows the problem and are working on it.[/QUOTE]
QUOTE=Gustav]Tom Purves will get a Individual BMW this year. BMW M is doing a small test of a select few cars that are Individual to the USA, and then for next year Individual might be possible for USA.
It ll has to do with the pattern of US buyers: alot of owners tend to change their colour specs a few weeks before production, now this is impossible with Individual, since Individual must be specced well in advance.
However BMW M knows the problem and are working on it.[/QUOTE]
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