oreo

Waschbaerbauch:

I am also waiting for the Particle filter. I hope that the Swedish taxation system changes as well so that we can get a lower tax for the cleaner new car!

RichReg

Unfortunately, BMW cannot hedge forever.

If they were able to protect themselves indefinitely from changes in the exchange rate, they would quit making cars and go into trading currency futures. Its not a matter of falling asleep, its being able to predict how far out in time you think the Euro is going to outpace the dollar. It can also become quite expensive to keep buying what can only be extremely large denominations of these future contracts.

Also, when they 'bragged' about being hedged, they DID mention that they were only protected until mid-2004. That means if the Euro continues to increase after that time has passed, we can only expect even more of the same price increases that are still on their way.

Finally yes, building some vehicles in the U.S. helps but, those are not a huge percentage of total unit car sales for BMW and more importantly, many of those are also sold here, which nullifies a lot of the U.S. currency advantage they get when building here.

R.R.

Guest

the dealer said to me that they no have 9% margin instead of 11% margin due to economy changes. i think thats a crap...isn it?

ky_soldier

I might be overly skeptical, but, again, why would they raise the X5 and Z4 prices as well, part costs?

And when the Euro falls against the dollar, BMW will lower it's prices back down, right?

Uh huh...that's why they are full of it. You watch, the dollar will rebound some, the economy will improve, and they will hold the line on prices and discounts and be even more profitable! Supply and demand.

RichReg

kysoldier;
I agree. BMW certainly won't lower prices as they have not done that historically when the dollar was strong.

B.T.W.; I am not bashing BMW and of course all European manufacturers are affected by this. It just pains me to know that their product is currently out of my reach and may not have been if it wasn't for this currency crap. Hopefully, my savings rate will outpace their price increases.

R.R.

ky_soldier

It just upsets me that this 5 series was already higher than it should have been from the start. To cry "we can't hedge" does not seem right. Time will only tell if they can actually hold the line with these prices. Best of luck.....Eric

Guest

What is a bit sly about this is that we punters are penalised if we want to order cars with options not currently available. For example, I've ordered Navigation Professional. As this is not available until March build, I will be paying an extra 3% on the whole car for the privelege.

RichReg

Or if we decide to wait for any OTHER changes, like more powerful engines for example. Regardless of option choices, hats off to those who took the bold step in ordering as soon as possible because it doesn't look like BMW will be stabilizing prices anytime soon.....

Courtesy: Bloomberg News:
Euro Surges as German Confidence Gains; Yen at Three-Year High

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=e...id=aAIOHsAvzlPg

R.R.

Guest

RichReg why don't you post on Roadfly anymore?

RichReg

<_<
Well, I could answer that question but apparently, I am at a loss.

You know my name, but I don't know yours....
Do you post on Roadfly?

R.R.