[Propagator]

Originally Posted by wannabe

I'm not really sure if limiting options really simplifies and reduces cost. You can order way more combinations in other countries, but limits the interior choices in the U.S. (not allowing cloth interiors.) Obviously allowing people in Europe to build BMWs with cloth interiors is worth it enough for them to add this to the build config, otherwise why allow the option?

Yes, but presumably, the profit margin per car in those countries is greater than that in the USDM to warrant such customizability. It is well known that the US is the most price competitive market, and the pay off is large volume. With the new line system, I would expect that a substantially smaller portion of their production is now "oddballs".

So, applying the same logic, why would they limit options in the "lines" that could possibly result in lost sales? If I want a "luxury" line car, but want a "modern" key fob. How does it save BMW money to not allow me to do this?

I am sure BMW is aware that they will lose some sales due to these new limitations. The only rational reason they would go for it despite that is because they have done the calculation, and the cost saving outweighs the small loss of sales.

In other words, the restrictions seem to be centered around the designers' tastes. The designers say "Sporty" spice would only want their BMWs to looks this way. "Posh" spice would only like it to look this way. "Crazy" spice would like an oyster interior.

That is backward. I'm sure designers and/or marketers worked their butt off to make sure they would minimize the loss of sales coming from the limitations. But it doesn't make sense to say that BMW implemented a new strategy that will lose sales without any cost saving benefits just to please the dictatorial urges of its designers. I don't think anyone runs a company that way.

Why allow more options and at the same time only allow certain combinations of those options? I'm not sure cost and build simplicity is the only answer.

The interior and color choices are already very limited from Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti. This is what sets BMW apart from those brands. An almost fully customizable car. Why walk away from that awesome distinction?

It's not true that you could get any combination of options with the E90. Not everything was a stand alone option. What if you wanted a chrome-line window surrounding in a sedan, but still wanted the sports suspension, or sport seats? You couldn't get it. What if you wanted a regular suspension with the sport steering? You couldn't get it. Those restrictions were there because it saved BMW cost without losing too much sales. They just went further down that road.

I also liked that BMW allowed you more flexibility compared to the Japanese brands. I would've liked BMW to stay that way as well, by cutting corners somewhere else. But just reading this forum, it's clear the buyers demand every single gadgets and luxury features available in other cars. It would be very costly for BMW to offer them all, just like everyone else, and then also offer the virtually unlimited flexibility. So I think the fact that they offer more options than ever is directly linked to the fact that now you have a lot more restrictions on the combinations.