|
I've been fortunate enough to have owned a number of BMWs over the past dozen years - and I've seen this slow trend of decontenting for some time. For example M3's used to have fabric covered sunshades, now they're vinyl; because it's cheaper. Simple things like that. I'm guessing that part of this is the weak dollar and instead of hiking prices up big they're just slowly removing some features that hopefully people won't notice or care much about (my 2008 BMW has fabric - the headliner fabric- sunshades, my 2011 M3 had vinyl, but I really didn't care much). Also if you look around the world the US pays the lowest prices for most luxury cars including BMWs, even after you adjust for taxes and duties - so in my opinion this type of thing will slowly continue to happen unless we are willing to pay more for the cars.
Don't get me wrong - I am going to miss this and the auto high-beams (which I have on my 2008); but I suspect most buyers may not notice or if given the choice would rather have the car for a lower price and not have those features in. At least that's the bet I think that BMWNA is making.
|