m630

M630

This should be the product offering with the 525i dumped!!!

CVT Benhogan
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...tell me about it, I fought with BMW NA on this in the early fall, but they said they have no plans to bring the 540i to the US, at least at that time, but who knows for the future....a 540 and a 640(not in production as of yet) should be made available to US!!!

UUronL

I was thinking about this whole mess this morning and something jumped out at me...


While there is ample room in terms of a horsepower gap between models in the US, there really isn't enough of a pricing gap to accomodate a new model. Is an $8,000 delta between the 530i and 550i (equally optioned) enough room to insert a model with a cost that splits the difference and still get buyers for those 3 cars? (530i, 535i, 550i) It would seem to me that at least one car's sales might languish if the lineup and pricing doesn't make sense.

Does this signify the impending onset of feature differentiation? (Think M sport on the 535i) Will it signify a price hike on the 550i to make room (perhaps with exclusive options availability and added standard equipment to justify it)? Perhaps a price drop on the 530i?

It's anyone's guess, but something to think about. Would you spend $4K more to get the 535i if you had been considering the 530i? Would you save $4K and get the 535i if you had been considering the 550i? I supposed one could point to Audi, who successfully marketed two cars with roughly the same performance here - the A6 2.7T and the A6 4.2. Seemed to work, but I think the price gap was a bit larger - and the A6 2.8 was a weakling.

What's the difference in price between the 530i petrol, 535d, and 550i respectively in the EU? Hrmm, come to think of it, that might not tell us much since the fuel powering the 535d is as much an incentive to buyers as the merits of the automobile itself. There will not be such a factor affecting the US market offering.


Thanks for tuning into my early-morning stream of consciousness.

Ricracing

The engine codename for both the old 530d and the current 535d is M57N.

The new 530d with the 231 hp the engine is called M57N2.

Fünfer

As of the german september price list (which should be still current):

530i - US$ 44.201,99
540i - US$ 53.897,26
550i - US$ 62.445,75

530d - US$ 44.879,63
535d - US$ 52.542,01

540i, 550i, 535d include options worth US$ 3.544,51 (if bought for a 530i/530d). The 550i includes even some more stuff worth another US$ 2.303,92. And the 535d is only available with (and thus includes) an automatic transmission which is an US$ 2.189,24 option on the other models.

All prices are subject to a 16% sales tax (VAT) which has to be paid buy the buyer and is collected by the seller (BMW dealer).

A more thourough analysis is left as an excercise to the reader

UUronL

As of the german september price list (which should be still current):

530i - US$ 44.201,99
540i - US$ 53.897,26
550i - US$ 62.445,75

530d - US$ 44.879,63
535d - US$ 52.542,01

540i, 550i, 535d include options worth US$ 3.544,51 (if bought for a 530i/530d). The 550i includes even some more stuff worth another US$ 2.303,92. And the 535d is only available with (and thus includes) an automatic transmission which is an US$ 2.189,24 option on the other models.

All prices are subject to a 16% sales tax (VAT) which has to be paid buy the buyer and is collected by the seller (BMW dealer).

A more thourough analysis is left as an excercise to the reader
[/quote]


Thanks. As I expected, the gaps are much larger than in the US, and the models fit together pretty nicely in terms of pricing. The 535d and 540i are roughly equivalent as are the 530i and 530d... probably as they should be.