[Piers]

Excellent news, have you booked your BB14STR plate for it?

[Balster]

Ha! I got my choice of number plate from a list of 20.
It does read something, but not my name.

[dippo]

I think it's very generous of you to pay the dealer a week in advance of taking the car.

[andyk500]

Originally Posted by Balster

I went and paid for the car and did the usual paperwork this afternoon , so pick-up next week should be a straightforward process.

Hope you are also not one of the unlucky 15 like me, who will not be getting their car on the 1st March....

I ordered my new F10 on the 20th Nov ready for the magical day next Saturday. Only to be called by my dealer last week to say my car was one of 15 heading for the UK that had been vandalised and written off whilst in storage. My car has now been reordered and the wait begins again whilst a replacement is built. Now told it should be early April.....Arghhhhhhhhh !!!!

[Balster]

Thats terrible.
Fortunately, mine arrived at the dealers a few weeks ago.

[Balster]

7 days until I take delivery.

Balster BMW Fact no 7:


The headquarters of BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) is located in Munich, at the Petuelring, directly next to the Olympic village. It is considered to be one of the most notable Munich modern buildings. The complex consists of BMW Tower and BWM Museum.

Its architect, Viennese Karl Schwanzer, had a great idea to accommodate the famous auto mobile company into the building in the shape of four cylinder engine. It remains also the huge cloverleaf. The BMW buildings were built at the same time as the Olympic park. The construction of the Tower started in 1968 and finished in 1972, the Museum started in 1971 and was finished in 1973, when the entire complex was inaugurated on 18 May.

The construction of BMW Tower was very special and it can be say, that it is actually a hanging building. All the 22 floors were made on ground and then pulled up to the top, each floor suspended from the level above. The cylinders do not stand on the ground but are suspended on a central supporting tower. Each of the cylinders is divided horizontally in its centre by a recess in the façade. The height of the building is 101 metres and the diameter is 52 metres.

[Balster]

6 days until I take delivery.

Balster BMW Fact no 6:

The conception of the BMW Museum was done by the same architect as with the Tower – Dr. Karl Schwanzer. In comparison with BMW Tower, the Museum was built as a “self-supporting body” – the concrete shell holds the roof. The building looks like upside-down dome, or giant silver egg cup, or salad bowl. It is also said that it is actually the cylinder head.

The building is supported also from inside – by the spiral path rest entirely on the columns. They support the four platforms that increase in size the further up one go. The diameter of the shell is less than 20 metres in its most narrow part, 41 metres at the top. The Museum is 19 metres high. On its roof, there is a big BMW logo.

[Zaman]

Wow, i like your idea. Subscribed to read more.

[hajmuntz]

It is going to be quite a let down when Balster gets his new car and our bmw related facts dry up :-(

[Balster]

Perhaps someone else who is going to be receiving their car will pick-up the mantle :-)

[Balster]

5 days until I take delivery.

Balster BMW Fact no 5:

Built by Mature Workers: A BMW's car plant where all employees are aged over 50.

A section of the luxury car manufacturer's works at Dingolfing in Southern Bavaria has been nicknamed ‘Altstadt‘ - German for Old Town - by the grateful employees who say they might otherwise be on the job scrapheap.
Because Germany has a highly skilled workforce - but an increasing skills gap - BMW took the lead to get those laid off or in early retirement back on the production line in 2011.

The Bavarian auto maker says the factory was a world first because while it employs people of all ages, it is aimed particularly at the valuable, older skilled workers it hopes to retain.

The Old Town plant comprises 6,500 square metres of space that was designed by the usual mix of industrial architects and automotive engineers - plus therapists and doctors who specialise in treating more elderly people.

[hajmuntz]

With approximately 900 days to my next new car that might be rather boring if I took it on!

Originally Posted by Balster

Perhaps someone else who is going to be receiving their car will pick-up the mantle :-)

[remmib]

Wait, you taking delivery on Sunday, 5 days from today?

[Balster]

Originally Posted by remmib

Wait, you taking delivery on Sunday, 5 days from today?

Bloody February.
I will have to make up with two facts tomorrow.

[Balster]

4 days until I take delivery.

Balster BMW Fact no 4:


Why did BMW buy Rover?

BMW made much of the losses that Rover "forced" upon them during their period of stewardship, but it is clear that the German Company also gained a great deal from the ill-fated partnership.

[Balster]

3 days until I take delivery.

Balster BMW Fact no 3:

cont..
This is a very interesting question. For a company with the prestige of BMW to have purchased a car company and then dumped Rover after such a short time, questions must be raised as to why exactly did they buy the company in the first place, and did they ever really intend to keep it?

BMW had a highly developed and nurtured image. However, they also had a very limited market into which they sold cars. BMW had been described as a company that 'made only one saloon, but in three different sizes'. Although their market was expanding, global consolidation of the motor industry threatened either their independence or their ability to continue to make cars competitively, depending on how you viewed it.

[Balster]

The deal to buy the Rover Group from British Aerospace was completed in a whirlwind 10 days. BAe were keen to dispose of Rover, as the company did not fit well with their core interests of Aerospace and defence. The high capital-consuming business of long-run, mass production of low-cost consumer products had little synergy with the low capital-consuming, build-to-order, niche production of high-value items such as Airbus wings or military jets. BAe were keen to sell, BMW wanted to buy.

Honda were the only problem. Honda, Rover's partner for over a decade, were deeply entwined with Rover's fortunes. Rover cars were not only heavily dependent on Honda for their engineering, but the company was 20% owned by Honda (the Rover Group owning the remaining 80%) and the Rover Group owned 20% of Honda's UK manufacturing facility in Swindon. Honda, however, were not interested in working with BMW. They did not want to retain their equity stake in a Rover now owned by a competitor and they wanted their 20% of Swindon back. The cross-holding was quickly unwound.

However, this background does not tell us exactly why BMW shelled out so much to purchase Rover. Did BMW buy to expand their portfolio and manufacturing base or to thwart their competitors? Although at the time, it was seen as the former, the latter objective cannot easily be dismissed as fantasy. If, as was believed at the time, Rover were on course, with their Honda-derived vehicles, to overtake BMW in terms of sales volume in Europe - and Rover were definitely trying to become "Britain's BMW" - was strangulation from inside the only way of stopping this threat? It was also the case that killing the Honda-Rover partnership would set back the European plans of Honda - another "quality competitor", as viewed by BMW.

[Balster]

It could be argued that BMW wanted a quick start in 4x4 to be able to compete with Mercedes-Benz. Once the X5 had been developed and launched (with Land Rover technology, know-how, etc for sure), BMW no longer needed Land Rover. It has been said that Land Rover was raped and pillaged by BMW and that without it BMW could not have produced the X5. It was also questionable at the time as to why BMW developed the X5 when they had the Land Rover brand in their portfolio. Looking back, it could be argued that they never intended to keep Land Rover, only to gain the knowledge that this world leader possessed.

The Rover 75 was launched - a car that competed with BMWs, remember - with the same high-tech diesel engine as the BMW 3 and 5 series. However, it was in a lower spec than that available to BMW customers. BMW launched this car and then tied one arm behind its back. They would not allow it to take sales from BMW.

[Balster]

When the Rover 75 was launched at the Motor Show, BMW executives stood up in front of the new car and said that they were thinking of closing down the Longbridge plant. As marketing initiatives go, this was a pretty bloody stupid one. It was no wonder that the car - What Car?'s car of the year - was a slow seller. However, despite how it might appear on the surface, BMW are not stupid. They are masters of the marketing machine. This can only have been a deliberate ploy to give BMW the ability to exit with the assets they had invested in.

So let's have a look at exactly where BMW invested, and ask the question:

Did BMW lose money on Rover?

Publicly, yes. Privately, probably not.

BMW did invest in Rover during it's ownership. However, the vast majority of that investment they either still own or sold at a fair value or a vast profit.

· They purchased the whole Group for £800,000,000, then sold Land Rover alone for £1,800,000,000. That is a £1bn increase on its own.

· The vast majority of the investment in plant went to Cowley (or Rover Oxford as BMW called it). BMW retained this plant.

· BMW invested in a new engine facility (Hamms Hall). BMW have retained this plant.

· BMW retained the Longbridge Engine & Transmissions facility, thereby forcing Rover to buy components from BMW to be able to make cars. The same goes for the Swindon panel pressing plant. BMW made money out of Rover car sales, even if Rover were making a loss. Eventually, they sold these facilities to Phoenix, but it was for a fair value, and not included in the £10.

[Balster]

The overall cost of the exercise, once fully adjusted, was possibly minimal. Certainly a lot cheaper than creating a new marque from scratch. And a new marque would not have had the world-known abilities of the "MINI" brand which BMW are now actively exploiting.

[Jocky Wilson]

Originally Posted by Balster

Perhaps someone else who is going to be receiving their car will pick-up the mantle :-)

I'm not sure I have the time to cover a countdown like you Balster, but I'm due to pick up my Brand Spanking 520D Touring during Week 12 (mid March in other words). I am indeed going a bit up the wall waiting, not to mention driving the wife nuts!

Got Pro Nav, auto box, Panoramic sunroof, active cruise control, HUD, comfort access, full 6WB digital dash.

Never owned a Bimmer before! Can't wait!!!

[Piers]

Originally Posted by Jocky Wilson

I'm not sure I have the time to cover a countdown like you Balster, but I'm due to pick up my Brand Spanking 520D Touring during Week 12 (mid March in other words). I am indeed going a bit up the wall waiting, not to mention driving the wife nuts!

Got Pro Nav, auto box, Panoramic sunroof, active cruise control, HUD, comfort access, full 6WB digital dash.

Never owned a Bimmer before! Can't wait!!!

Excellent, welcome, what colour did you go for in and out? 6WB is that the Multi Function display? Great piece of kit that