Quote:
Originally Posted by MTROIS
A.,
...I suspect that may be a lot of people are able to bring their cars back these days so may be the European dealers (or even BMW) are getting protective of their local markets.
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You may have a point there. We are getting our US spec 2009 E93 via military sales for about $68K (US). There is a new European spec'ed 2008 E90, with what looks to be a little less equipment, at the local German BMW dealer for about $68K (Euro).
So for a "cheaper model" with less equipment and the prior MY, the cost is significantly more, both in terms or base price and the exchange rate. Granted, you have to be a US DOD ID card holder to purchase via military sales and it will come in US spec form only, but the cost difference is there to make it advantageous for the manufacturer to draw a difference (artificial or not) between the two models, based on intended markets.
In regards to service, I have not heard of any horror stories in getting adequate service for US spec'ed cars via the German BMW dealership network. Heck we had warranty work done on our Toyota over here and they don't even sell the model outside of North America! We had to wait for parts to be shipped in, but it was a noj-issue for warranty or worked performed. My soon to be winter only Honda CRV has been serviced by the German Honda dealer, despite is being US spec as well. So something does not seem to fully add up.