BMW Offers Factory Delivery - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Automotive Industries,  Sept, 1999  by Lindsay Brooke

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The mission statement of BMW's latest U.S. facility is simply, "Wow!" No kidding. It's the automaker's new Performance Center, located adjacent to the Spartanburg, S.C., factory. The center, which opens this month, combines a customer delivery program with service tech training, performance driving training, BMW owners' club meets, media events, company business meetings and even new vehicle development. It's all in one 60,000-square-foot building, next to a DOT-standard road circuit with skidpad and water hazards, and an off-road track.

"BMW's Executive Committee quickly realized how valuable a multi-function facility like this would be," says Performance Center Manager Tom Troy about the $12.5 million investment. BMW hopes to train as many dealer techs here as possible and sell a few cars as well. The center will begin an American factory delivery program, similar to the one that sold 1,400 cars in Germany last year. BMW hopes to sell the same number to U.S. customers and visitors from overseas.

"There is big demand from European tourists to pick up their new cars here and spend a week or two touring the southeastern U.S.," says Troy. When a customer opts to pick up their Z3, M Coupe or X5 at the plant, BMW will give them the red-carpet treatment. The customer gets picked up at the airport and chauffeured to the Performance Center, where their new vehicle is waiting in a glass-enclosed delivery bay. A "delivery specialist" then walks them through its features, before a three-hour driving skills course outside on the track.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Cahners Publishing Company
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group