der Bayerische July/August 2021 - 31

L E A S I N G A 2 0 2 1 B M W X 3 3 . 0
X5 was on the path to becoming a
parts car.
The complexity of the auto
industry is seductively fascinating.
Ideally, sales should match production
capacity; that is the dealer vehicle
turnover rate (sales) matches full
capacity at assembly lines, resulting
in the dealership, OEM, and suppliers
earning both maximum revenue and
profit. It's almost the sole responsibility
of the OEM to drive the demand, a
multivariable equation of developing
" gotta have " quality products, attractive
financing, and ensuring a favorable
dealership experience and a
favorable ownership experience.
Creating or anticipating market trends
is what draws many to work in this
industry. While it is a durable goods
market, it's not a commodities market.
Consumers buy products that reflect
their personality. That's what makes
the auto business so unique, and to
me, attractive.
I knew something was afoot at
BMW when the then Chairman of
BMW NA, Ludwig Willisch, remarked
to me that the major issue with the
North American BMW buyer was that
we keep our vehicles for " too long. "
To me this was an odd remark, considering
that when I was first exposed
to BMW in the late 1970s, it seemed
that owning a Bentley repair manual
was mandatory. That, coupled with
the very handy BMW tool kit that was
located under the trunk lid, proved to
me that BMW owners were different -
we liked to work on our cars because
that gave us the chance to " know " our
BMW. And with the long BMW model
cycles, a loyal following steadily grew.
By the way, a fun raffle question
for any BMW CCA gathering would be
to name the tools in the 1970s
through 1990s BMW tool kits.
Competitors such as Lexus disrupted
the annual sales cycle, with
sales events such as " December to
Remember " coupled with low-cost
leases. With a corporate initiative to
increase sales and market share,
something had to be done to increase
demand. Making the products to be
much less conducive to long-term
July I August
(Above) Definitely a driver enthusiast car. Note the now-standard sport seats. (Below) A BMW without run-flat tires.
Note the elevated cargo deck.
ownership may have been one of
those actions.
Design techniques that decrease
assembly costs and increase product
quality paradoxically decrease the
potential of long-term, high-mileage
ownership. Today's automotive
assembly lines are no longer a symphony
of people harmoniously
assembling mechanical parts onto
a chassis that result in a quality,
finished product. It is now a robotically
driven integration of a series of
major subsystems. These are highly
integrated electro-mechanical subsystems
that are designed to be
completely replaced in the event of an
individual component failure.
So it's no wonder that while one
can still see a significant number of
E46 3 Series and E39 5 Series on the
road, seeing high-mileage versions of
the later generation BMW models is
quite rare.
Now all OEMs use the same
subsystem-integration design and
assembly methodology. When was
the last time you saw an older Lexus,
Infiniti, Acura, Audi, or Mercedes on
31
the road? And with some buyers
using 84-month loans to finance their
new vehicle purchase, one can
imagine the adverse reaction to high
repair prices once their vehicle is no
longer under warranty.
My oldest daughter received our
2017 X3 with a little over 51,000
miles. The X3 recently had both front
and rear brakes replaced (no longer
covered by the BMW complimentary
maintenance plan) and received a new
set of Michelin run-flat tires. Given
that the X3 has been very well
maintained, our daughter will have
years of enjoyable BMW ownership.
Since our daughter now has our
2017 X3, which was purchased and
fully paid for, my wife and I decided to
get a leased 2021 BMW X3.

der Bayerische July/August 2021

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