[srswans]

Originally Posted by pseto

For east coast orders, if there are delays, sounds like a good excuse for Performance Center delivery at Spartanburg plant. I believe those are delivered through Georgia

My salesperson told me that PCD takes two weeks longer than an East Coast delivery.

[BMWCCA1]

Originally Posted by srswans

My salesperson told me that PCD takes two weeks longer than an East Coast delivery.

First, the shortage of RAM has nothing to do with the Baltimore VPC. I have sold cars sitting in Baltimore and at the VPC that serves the Performance Center all waiting for the same parts. Some cars were ordered as sold nearly a year ago and some have been sitting waiting for the RAM for months after production. I scheduled an X5 for PCD today that has yet to be built and they've already assigned a pickup date in March. At the other extreme, I have a sold M5CS sitting in South Carolina simply waiting for a RAM and the PC won't even schedule a date for pickup until the RAM stop-sale has been cleared. Now if one arm of BMW can't even predict when they're going to see a Receiver Audio Module to retrofit a sold BMW, then their problems go deeper than just a part and supply chain problem.

[ZM2]

Awesome.

It killed me watching the ship bringing my new F87 over back in 2016 dock in Baltimore, then go all the way down to Brunswick GA, just to get trucked/trained back up to Baltimore.

And that was after the ship it was on broke down off the UK coast and had to be tugged back to port to unload the car onto a different ship. That was the longest month of my life watching those little ship dots move around the wrong directions on the map!

2-3mo COVID era delay? Couldn't imagine!

[themnmd]

When production gets back to normal, hopefully this will decrease delivery times!

[Ibiza]

Originally Posted by Game

That's the direction BMW wants to go. They want the customer to place their order to their spec and off they go. We're no longer a pantry and more so a chipotle. You get in line for your car and build it to your needs.

The way BMW disperses their allocations is based on how quickly the dealer can sell cars off their pipeline. The longer they have a car sitting on the lot, the less allocations of that specific vehicle they'll get in the future.

The current BMW stop sale to your chipotle analogy would be waiting for the rice to cook which stalls the line.

[Resjudicata]

Originally Posted by adc

Agreed.

I wanted to order an X2 M35i, order books are closed with no info and no ETA. So I searched dealer inventory, which BMW made extremely hard to do since they only allow new vehicle search for a 100 mile radius. Anyway, circumvented with cars.com and autotrader and found my car in Chicago.

I flew and picked it up over the weekend.

It's a ball of nervous energy and enthusiasm. But that's a different story.


Related to the post, very little inventory at BMW and Mini dealers. It was shocking to see that many models were just not represented at all, and for others inventory was like 1-3 cars.

100%. And congratulations on the new x2, do you love it?

[Resjudicata]

Originally Posted by Game

That's the direction BMW wants to go. They want the customer to place their order to their spec and off they go. We're no longer a pantry and more so a chipotle. You get in line for your car and build it to your needs.

The way BMW disperses their allocations is based on how quickly the dealer can sell cars off their pipeline. The longer they have a car sitting on the lot, the less allocations of that specific vehicle they'll get in the future.

That also means the end of discounts and deals. If I'm custom ordering and paying sticker, I might as well buy a Tesla.

In my mind, the one big advantage BMW has always had was its price relative to the market. Where MB and Porsche wanted sticker; you could get a BMW under invoice. They also had bigger selections on the lots than MB or Porsche. That made it very attractive.

Now if it's the same price for a Tesla, MB, Porsche or BMW ; AND I have to pay the same prices for all of them, and wait for 6 months for all of them ; well, let's just say, I can see the competition looking far more attractive.

[Resjudicata]

Originally Posted by Ibiza

The current BMW stop sale to your chipotle analogy would be waiting for the rice to cook which stalls the line.

And god forbid they have another ecoli outbreak.
I think they had to pay $25 Million last year for their E. coli.

[Game]

Originally Posted by Resjudicata

That also means the end of discounts and deals. If I'm custom ordering and paying sticker, I might as well buy a Tesla.

In my mind, the one big advantage BMW has always had was its price relative to the market. Where MB and Porsche wanted sticker; you could get a BMW under invoice. They also had bigger selections on the lots than MB or Porsche. That made it very attractive.

Now if it's the same price for a Tesla, MB, Porsche or BMW ; AND I have to pay the same prices for all of them, and wait for 6 months for all of them ; well, let's just say, I can see the competition looking far more attractive.

Not necessarily. You'll still be able to negotiate on price.

And let's be serious, most BMW guys aren't Tesla guys.

[Draper]

Originally Posted by Game

The way BMW disperses their allocations is based on how quickly the dealer can sell cars off their pipeline. The longer they have a car sitting on the lot, the less allocations of that specific vehicle they'll get in the future.

100%

And unfortunately, cars with stop sales are still classified as undelivered and count against the dealer...even though it's not their fault.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by BMWCCA1

First, the shortage of RAM has nothing to do with the Baltimore VPC. I have sold cars sitting in Baltimore and at the VPC that serves the Performance Center all waiting for the same parts. Some cars were ordered as sold nearly a year ago and some have been sitting waiting for the RAM for months after production. I scheduled an X5 for PCD today that has yet to be built and they've already assigned a pickup date in March. At the other extreme, I have a sold M5CS sitting in South Carolina simply waiting for a RAM and the PC won't even schedule a date for pickup until the RAM stop-sale has been cleared. Now if one arm of BMW can't even predict when they're going to see a Receiver Audio Module to retrofit a sold BMW, then their problems go deeper than just a part and supply chain problem.

^^^This. As stated before BMW will not sit on a car in the VPC as it is inventory and inventory turnover is key in the retail market. Believe me the BMW CFO gets hammered weekly if not more on this topic as well as whomever is in charge of their supply chain. There is no "hey it's sitting in Baltimore so let's let it sit" thought in the equation. If they have the parts they'll push it out the door ASAP.

[Macheins]

Originally Posted by Game

That's the direction BMW wants to go. They want the customer to place their order to their spec and off they go. We're no longer a pantry and more so a chipotle. You get in line for your car and build it to your needs.

The way BMW disperses their allocations is based on how quickly the dealer can sell cars off their pipeline. The longer they have a car sitting on the lot, the less allocations of that specific vehicle they'll get in the future.

The problem with BMW's production issues right now for those with lengthier than even normal length waits are that they don't seem to know how to run a Chipotle style service without alienating some of their customers.

To have fun, vent/gripe, and extend the analogy for folks who have been constantly delayed in the production schedule, dealt with missing CIDs (QC Purgatory) or RAM parts... let's pretend it is the same as trying to order a Taco Bowl from Chipotle. You make it to the first people in their process who take orders. They are the sales associates for Chipotle who help you pick out your food and options. This Chipotle is special where you put down $3 of your order up front, and pay the rest when the order is delivered. Strange, but that's how they do it here to make sure you legitimately want their taco bowls.

There are a couple of people taking orders at the same time. You flag one sales associate down, give them your $3 via a credit chip scan, and tell them that you'd like one chicken taco bowl with pico de gallo, a special blend of hot sauces, and some sour cream on top. They pass on the information to the rest of the assembly team. However, the assembly team wasn't ready for another taco bowl order right now. Burrito? Sure. Taco Bowl? Not yet. So they ask you to please step back in line for a moment and let some others through. This happens 3 or 4 times and about 10 to 15 minutes have already gone past.

At this point, you're irritated but you've already ordered and can see all the other food being served in front of you. You know it would be a whole process to recollect your $3 on credit and leave, so you decide to let it slide as there have been a lot of issues lately due to COVID and you can understand some training delays or other supply chain problems causing a bit of a problem for a specific order. Besides, you are a huge Chiptole enthusiast. This is the place for you and a ton of the people who come here for lunch are here because you convinced them this is the place to get the best food and service.

Now, they finally start assembling your taco bowl! You watch with hungry anticipation. The first worker assembles most of your taco bowl and you're ready to walk over to the cashier to pay for it but you notice your taco bowl doesn't come over to the cashier with you. When you double back and inquire with the assembly team, they indicate that your bowl was set aside to be checked for quality before being sold. You know that Chipotle sometimes does this to make sure their food is the best. You're super hungry by now but historically the service here is top notch and you know they are just sticking by their rule to not sell any food unless it 100% matches the order as expected.

You are informed the quality check could take a few minutes and you are asked to please go sit in Waiting Room #2 while this process is executed. You are reassured that your taco bowl will be ready as soon as possible. What is interesting is that as you enter Waiting Room #2, you find that you are not the only one there. In fact, every couple of minutes, someone else new joins you. The room fills up quickly and then suddenly nobody else comes in.

After some time waiting and wondering what is taking so long, you step outside the waiting room and notice some other customers are ordering taco bowls and they are paying and leaving with their food without any delay. Out of curiosity, you ask some of them what they ordered to see if there was some overlap with what you ordered. You start thinking "Is there some recall on chicken right now? Should I have gone with beef instead?". However, you see no pattern emerging when talking with other customers.

You even go back and ask people in the Waiting Room #2 about their orders to try to find some pattern. All you can determine is that most of the other people waiting with you ordered around the same time of day. You walk back out and find a Chipotle associate who is sweeping the floor and interrupt them to ask if they can help you get an update on your food or the food for the rest of the folks in Waiting Room #2. They say they have no information at all about specific orders and if you or anyone else needs information about an order, you should try asking the sales associate who took the order to begin with.

Not knowing how the hell the sales associate should know where your food is at this point or why it is delayed, you do as they say and try flagging down and asking the sales associate who initially took your order. They are a little caught off guard by the inquiry and inform you that they have no visibility into the assembly process beyond what you already know and ask that you please be patient and wait and trust that your order will be ready as soon as it is available.

Confused, you go back to Waiting Room 2 to ponder whether or not you should just leave. Your order was 95% done though and damnit you are a super fan of Chipotle that you trust they will make this right. You definitely do not want to have to go get some B tier food like Subway for lunch this time. However, you are also SUPER hungry and decide you are going to try to get to the bottom of the delay.

After pestering some associates and doing your best to not turn into a major Karen, you are able to chat briefly with the store manager. They tell you a bunch of speculative reasons as to why the quality check is taking longer because you ordered such a special bowl. The speculation ranges anywhere from the unique hot sauces you requested causing delays to there being a general delay in obtaining enough sour cream to complete food orders. They reiterate the rule that they won't sell any food unless it matches the order 100% as requested and promise they are doing everything they can to get your food ready as fast as possible.

Kind of hopeless, you go back to Waiting Room #2 you find that everyone else in the room has been having a Pepe Silvia moment and connecting every dot through every clue they could find about their taco bowls as well. Apparently they are also a collection of super Chipotle enthusiasts who wanted to get to the bottom of this. All of their crazy strings and pins on the wall point to one common denominator. Everyone ordered pico de gallo!!!

You all go run out and try to ask everyone if they have pico de gallo on their orders. Everyone says they sure do and they have no problems as they take their food and leave, or worse, eat in front of you. You ask everyone who works at the Chipotle if they know about a shortage of pico de gallo at any point and to your surprise, they all treat you like you really are having a Pepe Silva moment and that they have no idea what you are talking about. Some folks mention the sour cream shortage but no mention of pico de gallo shortages or acknowledgement of that being a problem at all.

You start to fume and realize that if you try to argue with anyone you are both too hungry and gaslit to think or speak rationally with anyone. You decide to check your options for just getting any food. Unfortunately, it looks like the line to Chipotle is at least an hour long for a new order. You quickly step outside and walk around to find that every single other restaurant, even Subway, has at least an hour wait as well. UGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!

Suddenly, as you walk back into Chipotle, a staff member walks up and says "Hey! I'm glad we found you! I've got good news! Your taco bowl is no longer undergoing quality checks! Please come back up and be ready to pay for your order!"

You quickly walk up to the cashier. You are super hungry and excited. You see your glorious taco bowl being handed to the last person in the assembly line... but it doesn't go to the cashier. It gets set aside as the last assembly person says "Sorry! We don't have any sour cream at my work station." You are asked to please go into Waiting Room #1 where you find there are other Chipotle enthusiasts who have created their own commune making you wonder just how long have they been living like this waiting for their food.

This isn't like the Chipotle you knew and loved but damnit... they still have the best taco bowl in the world and it's the only one for you so you are willing to deal with all their unexpected bullshit so long as you still get your taco bowl in the end.

Yeah... lots of hyperbole, overly dramatized, and more words than any of this is worth... or just maybe I'm just really hungry on my lunch break today.

[adc]

Originally Posted by Macheins

The problem with BMW's production issues right now for those with lengthier than even normal length waits are that they don't seem to know how to run a Chipotle style service without alienating some of their customers.

To have fun, vent/gripe, and extend the analogy for folks who have been constantly delayed in the production schedule, dealt with missing CIDs (QC Purgatory) or RAM parts... let's pretend it is the same as trying to order a Taco Bowl from Chipotle. You make it to the first people in their process who take orders. They are the sales associates for Chipotle who help you pick out your food and options. This Chipotle is special where you put down $3 of your order up front, and pay the rest when the order is delivered. Strange, but that's how they do it here to make sure you legitimately want their taco bowls.

There are a couple of people taking orders at the same time. You flag one sales associate down, give them your $3 via a credit chip scan, and tell them that you'd like one chicken taco bowl with pico de gallo, a special blend of hot sauces, and some sour cream on top. They pass on the information to the rest of the assembly team. However, the assembly team wasn't ready for another taco bowl order right now. Burrito? Sure. Taco Bowl? Not yet. So they ask you to please step back in line for a moment and let some others through. This happens 3 or 4 times and about 10 to 15 minutes have already gone past.

At this point, you're irritated but you've already ordered and can see all the other food being served in front of you. You know it would be a whole process to recollect your $3 on credit and leave, so you decide to let it slide as there have been a lot of issues lately due to COVID and you can understand some training delays or other supply chain problems causing a bit of a problem for a specific order. Besides, you are a huge Chiptole enthusiast. This is the place for you and a ton of the people who come here for lunch are here because you convinced them this is the place to get the best food and service.

Now, they finally start assembling your taco bowl! You watch with hungry anticipation. The first worker assembles most of your taco bowl and you're ready to walk over to the cashier to pay for it but you notice your taco bowl doesn't come over to the cashier with you. When you double back and inquire with the assembly team, they indicate that your bowl was set aside to be checked for quality before being sold. You know that Chipotle sometimes does this to make sure their food is the best. You're super hungry by now but historically the service here is top notch and you know they are just sticking by their rule to not sell any food unless it 100% matches the order as expected.

You are informed the quality check could take a few minutes and you are asked to please go sit in Waiting Room #2 while this process is executed. You are reassured that your taco bowl will be ready as soon as possible. What is interesting is that as you enter Waiting Room #2, you find that you are not the only one there. In fact, every couple of minutes, someone else new joins you. The room fills up quickly and then suddenly nobody else comes in.

After some time waiting and wondering what is taking so long, you step outside the waiting room and notice some other customers are ordering taco bowls and they are paying and leaving with their food without any delay. Out of curiosity, you ask some of them what they ordered to see if there was some overlap with what you ordered. You start thinking "Is there some recall on chicken right now? Should I have gone with beef instead?". However, you see no pattern emerging when talking with other customers.

You even go back and ask people in the Waiting Room #2 about their orders to try to find some pattern. All you can determine is that most of the other people waiting with you ordered around the same time of day. You walk back out and find a Chipotle associate who is sweeping the floor and interrupt them to ask if they can help you get an update on your food or the food for the rest of the folks in Waiting Room #2. They say they have no information at all about specific orders and if you or anyone else needs information about an order, you should try asking the sales associate who took the order to begin with.

Not knowing how the hell the sales associate should know where your food is at this point or why it is delayed, you do as they say and try flagging down and asking the sales associate who initially took your order. They are a little caught off guard by the inquiry and inform you that they have no visibility into the assembly process beyond what you already know and ask that you please be patient and wait and trust that your order will be ready as soon as it is available.

Confused, you go back to Waiting Room 2 to ponder whether or not you should just leave. Your order was 95% done though and damnit you are a super fan of Chipotle that you trust they will make this right. You definitely do not want to have to go get some B tier food like Subway for lunch this time. However, you are also SUPER hungry and decide you are going to try to get to the bottom of the delay.

After pestering some associates and doing your best to not turn into a major Karen, you are able to chat briefly with the store manager. They tell you a bunch of speculative reasons as to why the quality check is taking longer because you ordered such a special bowl. The speculation ranges anywhere from the unique hot sauces you requested causing delays to there being a general delay in obtaining enough sour cream to complete food orders. They reiterate the rule that they won't sell any food unless it matches the order 100% as requested and promise they are doing everything they can to get your food ready as fast as possible.

Kind of hopeless, you go back to Waiting Room #2 you find that everyone else in the room has been having a Pepe Silvia moment and connecting every dot through every clue they could find about their taco bowls as well. Apparently they are also a collection of super Chipotle enthusiasts who wanted to get to the bottom of this. All of their crazy strings and pins on the wall point to one common denominator. Everyone ordered pico de gallo!!!

You all go run out and try to ask everyone if they have pico de gallo on their orders. Everyone says they sure do and they have no problems as they take their food and leave, or worse, eat in front of you. You ask everyone who works at the Chipotle if they know about a shortage of pico de gallo at any point and to your surprise, they all treat you like you really are having a Pepe Silva moment and that they have no idea what you are talking about. Some folks mention the sour cream shortage but no mention of pico de gallo shortages or acknowledgement of that being a problem at all.

You start to fume and realize that if you try to argue with anyone you are both too hungry and gaslit to think or speak rationally with anyone. You decide to check your options for just getting any food. Unfortunately, it looks like the line to Chipotle is at least an hour long for a new order. You quickly step outside and walk around to find that every single other restaurant, even Subway, has at least an hour wait as well. UGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!

Suddenly, as you walk back into Chipotle, a staff member walks up and says "Hey! I'm glad we found you! I've got good news! Your taco bowl is no longer undergoing quality checks! Please come back up and be ready to pay for your order!"

You quickly walk up to the cashier. You are super hungry and excited. You see your glorious taco bowl being handed to the last person in the assembly line... but it doesn't go to the cashier. It gets set aside as the last assembly person says "Sorry! We don't have any sour cream at my work station." You are asked to please go into Waiting Room #1 where you find there are other Chipotle enthusiasts who have created their own commune making you wonder just how long have they been living like this waiting for their food.

This isn't like the Chipotle you knew and loved but damnit... they still have the best taco bowl in the world and it's the only one for you so you are willing to deal with all their unexpected bullshit so long as you still get your taco bowl in the end.

Yeah... lots of hyperbole, overly dramatized, and more words than any of this is worth... or just maybe I'm just really hungry on my lunch break today.

Super funny, and great analogies.

I vote this for the most entertaining post of the year.

[adc]

Originally Posted by Resjudicata

100%. And congratulations on the new x2, do you love it?

I adore it, and it quickly became the hottest commodity of the family.

My son loves the way it drives and wants to swap his beloved E46 for it as often as possible. He doesn't find it as intimidating as the F80 M3 but just as quick in daily situations.

My wife is also a bit scared of the M3, and the weather is not really conducive to top down motoring, so the Z4 is benched at the moment. Guess what, she too is fighting for the keys to the X2.

As for me, I am the keeper of the box of keys, so I rule.


Honestly, it is one of the best realized BMW's in the past 10 years. Aggressive when you want it, but not over the top. Raucous fun and ready for action. Nimble and quick.

As long as you understand the chassis and drivetrain, accept its front-wheel-drive-ness, and adjust accordingly to take advantage of the electro-mechanical LSD at the front, you will have a blast.

There are two must-have options IMO, both related to ride quality:
- Go with the 19" rims and all-season tires. Ride quality will suffer on the 20" with summer performance tires.
- Spec out the DDC (Dynamic Damper Control) if your roads are bad. Ride quality again majorly improved in normal/comfort mode.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by Resjudicata

That also means the end of discounts and deals. If I'm custom ordering and paying sticker, I might as well buy a Tesla.

In my mind, the one big advantage BMW has always had was its price relative to the market. Where MB and Porsche wanted sticker; you could get a BMW under invoice. They also had bigger selections on the lots than MB or Porsche. That made it very attractive.

Now if it's the same price for a Tesla, MB, Porsche or BMW ; AND I have to pay the same prices for all of them, and wait for 6 months for all of them ; well, let's just say, I can see the competition looking far more attractive.

This too tracks back to inventory and inventory turnover to a great extent. Some of the biggest deals available across all brands (perhaps minus Porsche) is for cars on the ground. BMW at least from my knowledge has lived through this conundrum (i.e., inventory turn) with the 2019 M850i's and the 2020 M8's. Not sure of other series but expect other examples there as well.

Originally Posted by Game

Not necessarily. You'll still be able to negotiate on price.

And let's be serious, most BMW guys aren't Tesla guys.

Exactly. Although I didn't get a huge discount on my custom ordered 2020 M850i due to the number of 2019s still on the ground which my CA offered significant discounts on I still got one for the 2020.

As for Tesla, I kicked a P100D Ludicrous Speed off of my short list for many reasons and doubt Plaid will ever change my mind. Inferior cabin quality, inferior sound compared to B&W and most importantly inferior sound compared to the glorious ICE in the M850i and M8C.