BMW European Delivery Program Ending for North American Customers!

[E9T.two]

That's terrible. I would have taken my whole family of 5 to pick up our next car. I guess we have to drive cross country from SC? I hope they bring it back in some form, I'll be first in line. (Who's starting the petition?!?)

[MTROIS]

Having enjoyed my first (and last?) Euro Delivery at the end of 2018, I can tell you that this is absolutely terrible news!!!

I sure hope they will change their minds....

We need to start a writing campaign to BMW NA brass to ask they revert this decision! Here is the address to leave feedback on the BMW NA site:

https://my.bmwusa.com/contact-form.html

[///M4ster Yoda]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

It's interesting that a 75% drop in business resulting in a cancellation is ruled a bad decision by BMW. If anybody here was running a business and observed that significant a decline, they would make a similar decision as well. Emotions truly do obfuscate reason.

Obtuse?

I'll say it once more. BMW created that 75% drop in NA ED deliveries by gutting the program in 2016. Caprice?

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by ///M4ster Yoda

Obtuse?

I'll say it once more. BMW created that 75% drop in NA ED deliveries by gutting the program in 2016. Caprice?

I realize the reasons stated earlier in the thread, but you're making an assumption that the choice to make changes to the ED program back then wasn't without merit. Unless you knew what was happening on the back end.....with the books......your position is mere conjecture.

[R N M]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

It's interesting that a 75% drop in business resulting in a cancellation is ruled a bad decision by BMW. If anybody here was running a business and observed that significant a decline, they would make a similar decision as well. Emotions truly do obfuscate reason.

No a good business would do some research and ask their clients of what is causing such a significant decline in a short amount of time. Then they would learn that dealers discourage ED and change in pricing also hurt the program.

This was originally a Marketing tool and helped distinguish BMW and helped cultivate special experiences of the brand that you would aspire and dream about. Its the same principle with M cars - back then you would aspire to one day own one so you start with a 325i because the M3 was that halo car. Nowadays BMW is loosing this aspiration quality by diluting the M brand, eliminating styling cues, and experiences such as ED.

[LOW4LYF]

Originally Posted by basscadet

No real loss here. BMW hasn't been an enthusiast brand in half a decade, it's not profitable for them.

What's profitable are SUV's and silly fake M (M340i, etc) cars leased by indiscriminate badge snobs who wouldn't know a real driving experience if it bit them on the derriere. The brand is dead with a capital D.

I don't think the brand is dead but BMW is adapting to its new customers.

You would be surprised how many new customers buying this ugly thing below just to have a "BMW"

They don't care if it's FWD, RWD or AWD... But it's good to have a BMW!

It's all about numbers and $$$, kinda makes sence for a big company as BMW is.





Edit: Some interesting numbers for the US Market

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mot...020-sales/amp/

[DarkstarZero]

European Deliveries did not drop because of lack of consumer interest. They dropped because dealerships refuse to sell them.

When the M2 came out, I tried to order it euro delivery but my dealership refused, said it cost them too much.

When the M2 C came out I called nearly 50 dealerships that had allocations and they ALL refused to sell me the car via Euro Delivery and would only offer performance center delivery. They all said it hurts them as a dealership to do Euro deliveries so they don't sell them anymore, like, at all - for any car.

This is a clear indication of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. BMW not talking to BMW NA not talking to BMW dealerships. Someone needs to be fired.

The Euro delivery experience is what got me into BMWs in the first place.

[Crimson92]

Another reason for me not to buy a new BMW.

Bummer.

[Brasko]

Grateful that I got to experience Euro Delivery with my M3. However kind of bummed that it's coming to an end.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by DarkstarZero

European Deliveries did not drop because of lack of consumer interest. They dropped because dealerships refuse to sell them.

When the M2 came out, I tried to order it euro delivery but my dealership refused, said it cost them too much.

When the M2 CS came out I called nearly 50 dealerships that had allocations and they ALL refused to sell me the car via Euro Delivery and would only offer performance center delivery. They all said it hurts them as a dealership to do Euro deliveries so they don't sell them anymore, like, at all - for any car.

This is a clear indication of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. BMW not talking to BMW NA not talking to BMW dealerships. Someone needs to be fired.

The Euro delivery experience is what got me into BMWs in the first place.

I encountered a similar situation when I purchased my M3. The first dealership in Portland that I went to was being hard-arse about it and did not want to do ED. i retracted my deposit and went to another dealership that welcomed the notion.

Later found out that dealerships do not make money on ED. You are basically buying directly from BMW when you do a Euro Delivery. The dealership doesn't profit from the sale like they would if you took home a vehicle off the showroom floor. With that said, dealerships try to persuade customers to opt out of ED so they can retain their profit margins.

I have a friend that works at MB AMG and he tells me that they get customers walking in asking for Euro Delivery all the time. More often than not they will try and persuade the buyer to purchase from their inventory vs. a Euro Delivery vehicle.

[DarkstarZero]

Originally Posted by Brasko

I encountered a similar situation when I purchased my M3. The first dealership in Portland that I went to was being hard-arse about it and did not want to do ED. i retracted my deposit and went to another dealership that welcomed the notion.

Later found out that dealerships do not make money on ED. You are basically buying directly from BMW when you do a Euro Delivery. The dealership doesn't profit from the sale like they would if you took home a vehicle off the showroom floor. With that said, dealerships try to persuade customers to opt out of ED so they can retain their profit margins.

I have a friend that works at MB AMG and he tells me that they get customers walking in asking for Euro Delivery all the time. More often than not they will try and persuade the buyer to purchase from their inventory vs. a Euro Delivery vehicle.

This. This is why the Euro Delivery program is dead.

Its because some executive couldn't figure out how to give a kick back to the dealer to fix the program.

[Brasko]

Originally Posted by DarkstarZero

This. This is why the Euro Delivery program is dead.

Its because some executive couldn't figure out how to give a kick back to the dealer to fix the program.

Exactly! RIP Euro Delivery

[crossmen00]

I would rather pay a premium for ED than completely losing the opportunity for ED. Why not just mark up the price for ED a little bit more since most ED buyers don't expect to save money on the experience?

[Nikolas]

RIP ED! Glad I did it in 2018

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by R N M

No a good business would do some research and ask their clients of what is causing such a significant decline in a short amount of time. Then they would learn that dealers discourage ED and change in pricing also hurt the program.

This was originally a Marketing tool and helped distinguish BMW and helped cultivate special experiences of the brand that you would aspire and dream about. Its the same principle with M cars - back then you would aspire to one day own one so you start with a 325i because the M3 was that halo car. Nowadays BMW is loosing this aspiration quality by diluting the M brand, eliminating styling cues, and experiences such as ED.

So you're assuming a large company like BMW didn't analyze the situation long before deciding to cancel the program. Are we dealing with imbeciles?

[cisternachyli]

Oh no....I wanted to do this! Now I will never get to have the chance to pick up a BMW at the Welt

[hans007]

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

So you're assuming a large company like BMW didn't analyze the situation long before deciding to cancel the program. Are we dealing with imbeciles?

i'd guess it was a pretty easy decision.

why even bother?

For 500 people in the last year...

and they just moved their volume sedan to mexico so you can't even ED it. the cars even available to ED are such a small selection that had they kept it going it would have been even less. And when the 2 series moves to mexico, how many ED buyers would it be?

Like by 2022, the only cars that you could ED would have been the 4/5/7/8 and z4 which are all on the lower rankings of volume as it is already

[bobert]

Originally Posted by JCZ5

Can we keep a list of everyone who says they will not be buying a BMW the next go-around because of this? Would be interesting to see how many people actually follow up on that 1,2,3 years later.

Also, if someone has the funds and willingness to buy a Porsche, that should be the only option! BMW is appealing because of its price point + fun factor. Also why Miata's are so popular. Same concept of value at a certain price point.

I am very disappointed at this news as well because ED has been on my bucket list as well. And trust me, I'm the guy who will buy a car based solely on the ownership / buying experience. But for me personally, I'm not writing off BMW just yet. Also, they still have PCD, which was a fantastic experience and hopefully with this news, BMW will further improve PCD (mainly looking to improve the museum aspect at Spartensburg)

Put me on that list - I won't be back. I'm writing off BMW for pretty much all the reasons others have stated here - design, no longer the "ultimate driving machine", lack of MT, & now no more ED.

I can buy the argument about BMW price point (vs Porsche), but not for a Miata - the Miata is appealing not 'cause it's considerably less expensive - I'd say it's more 'cause it's a very different driving experience - tiny, lightweight, convertible, etc - you can actually feel the speed in it. I can see myself buying a Porsche next and then another Miata after it (such as if my current one - 21 yrs old - were to bite the dust).

[bobert]

Originally Posted by nachob

If you enjoy manuals, it's crazy to not get one now, they are done and by the time you get around to order one they won't be available just as those that kept putting off ED, will no longer be able to get it. It was an amazing experience too.

I must also add that a lot of these things are self fulfilling prophecies. I am not into conspiracies but sometimes it feels that someone wants to prove that ED or manuals aren't viable so they rig the rules to cause their demise. Case in point Audi. They quit offering manuals on the cars that enthusiasts wanted in a manual like the S3 and RS3. Even if they were to offer them, you would have to buy it without testing it because no one stocked one. Then they would offer manuals as an economy option on lowly A3s. No one is buying manuals as an economy option anymore. So when no one would order an stripper A3 manual they said...oh manuals don't sell. Meanwhile there are online petitions to bring manual S3s or RS3s.

Same with BMW dealers. They would order a single manual M3 with NAV, extended leather bamboo colored and Executive Package and add a $10K markup and you can't test drive it. Or they would add $10K in carbon fiber bits in Java green. So the lone single manual would sit there for months then they would decree...see I told you manuals don't sell.

Finally, with ED, they dropped the discount from 7% to 5% and since the 1M started to take the ED cars out of the dealers allocation where before they were usually not counted against it. Dealers didn't want to deal with it and made it difficult for you. They didn't let people know about it. So they drop the discount and say...no one wants to take it now. Gee, we we were right no one wants ED. Yes, a lot of SUVs nowadays and M2 will be made in Mexico too so that is another factor but it's hard to see how they made it less appealing to people then say oh, no one wants it.

^This. All of this - spot on.

[bobert]

Originally Posted by Roch M4

This decision has nothing to do with less customer from NA choosing ED. it's all related to the fact that they will be producing more cars for the North America market in the new plant in Mexico and we will no longer get our cars from Germany, so ED will no be possible like for the X models. Current ED program cost almost nothing to BMW because the cars ships anyway from Germany....Shame on you BMW...my bucket list will now switch to Porsche!

^Also this.

You got it - on top of building all those SUVs, er, "SAVs", in SC, making them unavailable for ED, now they will build the new 3er and the next 2er (the coupe) in Mexico, which leaves not very many BMW vehicles for the NA customer to even consider for ED. Saw this coming (tho still shocked by the reality of it), considering they rigged the game to make ED a loser (for this reason along with other reasons above).

[bobert]

Originally Posted by alz0rz

Based on this bullet... I reckon something with respect to the EU insurance made this unfeasible.

"For the remaining orders which still qualify for European Delivery, these vehicles may not be operated on any racetracks or involved in any racing activities while they are in Europe."

I don't think that was much of a factor, if at all, as they've been saying that for several years (they were giving me that business three years ago).

Originally Posted by Scrippy

It'll be back. Just a Covid response. I'm sure BMW would rather break up with us here then have fewer scheduled ED customers on record. All companies are distancing themselves from personal contact or risk based off personal interaction. Anyone wanna bet a few bucks ED will be back for the G series M3/4 launch next year?

I hope you're right, but I doubt it'll be back - it's more than a covid-19 response, though that may have helped to expedite the demise of ED for NA folks.

[bobert]

Originally Posted by Darth One

Well now that this is posted, I REALLY can't blame BMW. I run a corporate department and I think I would get fired if I refused to cancel a money losing program that had only 500 takers a year. I am, however, shocked at how few people have done this in "recent years" (like what, 2019?)

BMW doesn't deserve all the blame, but they deserve their fair share of it - while consumer tastes have changed (buying SUVs, not buying MT, etc), BMW rigged the game to ensure ED for NA would fail.

Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan

Their business case makes sense. It is what it is. A more than 75% decline in ED's, but a significant increase in deliveries at the PC makes the decision a no-brainer much to the chagrin of the enthusiast crowd. BMW held on as long as they could, just like with the MT.

I don't see them holding on as long as they could - if that were the case, they wouldn't have given dealers an incentive to not do ED for M cars, for one example.

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

I suspect this decision wasn't easy for BMW. The marketing value of ED program has been literally immeasurable. Yet cost reduction goals combined with reduced demand and Covid-19 concerns became more important.

I'm guessing it was easy for them, for reasons above.