New Developments

[cameba5]

i guess mine is a Demo car being sold by the dealer. but in the order entry system my name is on it...not sure how that works?

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by cameba5

hmmm i just got off the phone with my dealer and he checked the status of my M3. It is due in the last week of Feb and will be release the first few days of March. so not the 29, i think you are talking about a later delivery. I mean i could be wrong. but i dont think the cars delivered in late feb will sit and rust for a month for no real reason. i can see them holding it untill the first few days of march but not for a full month

I thnk the idea of a "launch" is that they are unveiled at all dealers nationwide at the same time. That gives BMW another press opportunity. That make sense if all the dealers are keeping demos, like with the identical smurf blue E46s, but if BMW is letting them be custom ordered for individuals, I don't see the logic.

[OC ///M]

Originally Posted by cameba5

i dont think the cars delivered in late feb will sit and rust for a month for no real reason. i can see them holding it untill the first few days of march but not for a full month

Try telling that to Xcellere...

[cameba5]

woo hoo update as of tonight - my M3 is "being transported to the port of exit"...one step closer. check your status guys, i'm sure some of you have good news waiting for you

[rvacha]

Originally Posted by lucid

I am not defending BMW, but the cars that are being built now or have been built already were most likely never meant to be sold to customers at this stage. They are most likely all demo cars that the dealerships are supposed to use to promote the product. I doubt that full scale US production has even started yet. But I might be wrong. Regardless, BMW knew this would happen and didn't do anything about it.

I don't agree either. My *guess* is that BMW NA determined that M-DCT was going to be really big and decided to push as many 6MTs out the doors as possible now with the expectation that the production line would get filled with a lot (of slow to get ramped up) M-DCTs later

[lucid]

Originally Posted by rvacha

I don't agree either. My *guess* is that BMW NA determined that M-DCT was going to be really big and decided to push as many 6MTs out the doors as possible now with the expectation that the production line would get filled with a lot (of slow to get ramped up) M-DCTs later

Have you read timsev's post? Do you realize he works at a BMW dealership?

[BoB-O]

Will we be able to drive the demos before 3-29?

[rvacha]

Originally Posted by lucid

Have you read timsev's post? Do you realize he works at a BMW dealership?

Sure & yes. No offense to timsev, but BMW AG has historically told NA dealers what they want to tell them when they want to tell them. Hell, we often know more than the dealers. I am #1 at my dealer and I'm fairly confident that I'm not taking a demo slot... but then again maybe my dealer doesn't know that... then again maybe that's just further indication they don't know very much... I think we have all pretty much agreed that there were a boatload of JB M3s damaged by a listing ship that were intended to be demos. 100s. Many will be salvaged and used as demos. This means a lot of dealers will be getting at least one of those JB M3s and whatever orders they have taken from customers are therefore not demos (that seems almost by definition to me). I KNOW my dealer has a strict policy of not using customer-ordered cars as demos, in fact potential customers aren’t allowed to even sit in them. Calling all the customer-specified, customer-ordered M3s that have a production date "demos" is a stretch of semantics at best.

We know that FilthyMonkey actually bought a real demo in the UK, but has there been one report of an American dealer calling a customer and offering a demo for sale as-is once they receive the car? What are the odds of that? Perhaps the first cars are customer cars?

I have yet to see a single report on this board stating that a dealer has told a member that a demo would be there on March 29th We assume there’ll be some but no semi-official word. How can we assume that a significant portion of the first shipments aren’t customer cars?

[lucid]

I don't mean to turn this into a debate over nothing, as it really doesn't matter what the initial cars are or aren't, but here is some more info--true or false--that's been posted on this forum.

Originally Posted by rvacha

I think we have all pretty much agreed that there were a boatload of JB M3s damaged by a listing ship that were intended to be demos. 100s. Many will be salvaged and used as demos. This means a lot of dealers will be getting at least one of those JB M3s and whatever orders they have taken from customers are therefore not demos (that seems almost by definition to me).

What I read on several different posts was that those were press cars for BMW, and were not intended for the dealers. Plus, there is no proof that there were 100s of JB M3s in that ship. All we saw in the pics were about 4-5 JB M3s. There were irrelevant cars that were parked around the same lot that were also damaged such as a Toyota Corrolla. For all we know there were 30-40 M3s there.

Originally Posted by rvacha

Calling all the customer-specified, customer-ordered M3s that have a production date "demos" is a stretch of semantics at best.

Agreed. I think it is stupid, but in my opinion, it seems to be happening.

Originally Posted by rvacha

We know that FilthyMonkey actually bought a real demo in the UK, but has there been one report of an American dealer calling a customer and offering a demo for sale as-is once they receive the car? What are the odds of that? Perhaps the first cars are customer cars?

It appears that there are different regulations in Europe that govern how dealers use and sell demo cars. I am not exactly sure what the US regulations are but they sure don't require the dealer the slap on a visible demo car designation in the interior of the car.

Originally Posted by rvacha

I have yet to see a single report on this board stating that a dealer has told a member that a demo would be there on March 29th We assume there’ll be some but no semi-official word.

That said, OCkid recently said on one of his posts that his dealer has told him they would be keeping the demo car they are getting, and that as soon as it arrives, he is welcome to take it out for a test drive.

Originally Posted by rvacha

How can we assume that a significant portion of the first shipments aren’t customer cars?

Another post said there are less than 200 US cars being built during the first pass, which suggests full scale US production has not yet started, or is about to start. Meaning, not all dealers have gotten an allocation. If there was a full scale effort to get the 6MTs out as you are suggesting, this forum should have been flooded with US members with cars that are in production or have been produced, which clearly is not the case.

[mofomat]

The ones on the ship weren't even JB, they were Interlagos Blue.

[lucid]

Originally Posted by mofomat

The ones on the ship weren't even JB, they were Interlagos Blue.

I stand corrected on that one for the second time, but will blame rvacha for putting it out there again.

[OC ///M]

Originally Posted by lucid

That said, OCkid recently said on one of his posts that his dealer has told him they would be keeping the demo car they are getting, and that as soon as it arrives, he is welcome to take it out for a test drive.

Lucid's right, I did post a snipit of an email sent to me by the local dealer here in Newport Beach. My actual CA however, is Timsev from Newbold in IL.

Here is a portion of it...

...The M3 is not due to arrive at our dealership until March 22, 2008. Please contact me at that time and I will be happy to arrange an appointment for you to come in and test drive the new M3. Best Regards...

[timsev]

[OC ///M]

^ ...Tim, I'm not going with anybody else. To clarify Lucid's post above, I never said it was from my dealer...Sterling BMW (the local guys) just replied to the BMWNA M3 postcard I filled out a while back.

...but while you're here, any news for us?

[Epacy]

Originally Posted by OC kid

^ ...Tim, I'm not going with anybody else. To clarify Lucid's post above, I never said it was from my dealer...Sterling BMW (the local guys) just replied to the BMWNA M3 postcard I filled out a while back.

...but while you're here, any news for us?

You can't. Timsev said he would give me $10k off for all the kind words and referrals from this board, right Tim?

[GregW / Oregon]

Originally Posted by Epacy

You can't. Timsev said he would give me $10k off for all the kind words and referrals from this board, right Tim?

$10 or a free keychain, maybe.

[burrito007]

this all makes no sense to me. My dealer (morristown BMW) said they had a car scheduled to arive and be delivered to a customer by Jan 30/ Feb 1. They said they have 3-4 cars coming there way before the end of Feb and then more once the production gets ramped up. Did BMW just pull the rug out from underneath them?

[lucid]

Originally Posted by GregW / Oregon

$10 or a free keychain, maybe.

Timsev, if I move my deposit over to your dealership, will I get a free keychain, too?

[timsev]

No more news guys. It's pretty much just a waiting game right now. And the dealer that said they would have one this month was probably just estimating. No one will get a car until the official release.

Epacy, let me see what I can do. If I do take off $10k, do you know if your company is hiring?

And lucid, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse......two keychains! I'll go ahead and get the paperwork ready.

[timsev]

Originally Posted by OC kid

^ ...Tim, I'm not going with anybody else. To clarify Lucid's post above, I never said it was from my dealer...Sterling BMW (the local guys) just replied to the BMWNA M3 postcard I filled out a while back.

...but while you're here, any news for us?

I know it's from the other dealer. Don't worry, you didn't hurt my feelings.

[lucid]

Originally Posted by timsev

And lucid, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse......two keychains! I'll go ahead and get the paperwork ready.

SOLD!

[BoB-O]

Originally Posted by timsev

No more news guys. It's pretty much just a waiting game right now. And the dealer that said they would have one this month was probably just estimating. No one will get a car until the official release.

Epacy, let me see what I can do. If I do take off $10k, do you know if your company is hiring?

And lucid, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse......two keychains! I'll go ahead and get the paperwork ready.

Just to be clear, my local dealer estimated getting their demo in February. They said it will not be sold to a customer and that it will be available for test drive. Will it be held back until the official release?

Thanks,
BoB