[hyperzulu]

M3 Adjuster, unfortunately this is not de beers. BMW sells many models and has competition. If BMW had a monopoly in the market, then they could afford to play the supply and demand game in their favor. If they make less cars than they could, they make less money than they could. Simple. Sure, as a consumer you may end up paying more for the car, but as a manufacturer, BMW earns the same on every car they sell to INDEPENDENT dealer networks. How much we pay the dealer is mostly irrelevant. I say mostly because in truth, as I said, BMW doesn't have a monopoly so shoppers could choose a different $50k sports coupe instead of a more expensive BMW. BMW understands the industry in much more complex detail than your simple supply and demand examples. To assume a manufacturer limits production simply to affect the market is short sighted. Only a company with a monopoly in the market can afford to do that, and again this is far from the diamond industry.

How about BMW built the M2 to make sure they keep buyers in the BMW camp, opposed to jumping ship to MB or Audi because otherwise they'd have no model that matches up with their offerings? Brand loyalty means something - part of why they offer discounts to euro delivery orders.

As for why a manufacturer would want to limit supply of a model: for one, it's harder to build high production vehicles. You have to deal with supply chains that are harder to maintain. Logistical problems rise.

[Oliver1]

Originally Posted by M3 Adjuster

So.. tell me then.. why is the Cayman GT 4 limited?
Why did Dodge run out of Hellcats this year?
Why would ANY manufacturer limit production on any car?


I guess that Porsche and Dodge don't want to make any money...

Actually.. both those companies.. and BMW... understand the laws of supply and demand,

Ideally.. as a SELLER. you want supply to be LESS than Demand.. not Equal to it or more..
and that is why the supply of all these vehicles has been limited.

When supply is less than demand... then you can maximize profits by selling each item at the highest price. If the supply is equal to or especially when more than the demand.. then profits fall

There is clearly more profit in the M3/M4 for BMW than the M2.... so it behooves BMW to produce LESS M2s than demand.. not to mention the fact that we already know that they would prefer a 3/4 series sale so they can keep the compact luxury sports sedan sales crown..

In sales jargon.. The M2 is a " loss leader" it's a product that makes the company less profit.. and they certainly have other models that they can sell up to... Actually... salesmen are taught to sell from the TOP of the line DOWN... so as to maximize profit of course...

Joe Customer comes in and says he wants a 50 K M2.

Salesman " Sorry sir... the M2 is really hard to get.. but I do have a 62K M4 here... and guess what.. I can discount that car for you a little bit and get you into the car of your dreams today! "


Of course the discounted price (its on sale!) and the fact that it is immediately available, along with things like.. more options to choose from... (what.. the M2 doesn't have the nice seats... I can't color code my ceramic brakes. ?! there is no tech package I want... .. these all make it easier to get the buyer to " Fuck off and get an M4 " and when that happens.. BMW and the dealer both make more money! How did this happen? Because they purposely made LESS M2s than demand!

Guess what happens when M2 supply is so low that the dealers add a 10K markup?
The dealer then gets to make as much profit on an M2 as an M4!


Want to know a good way for BMW to make less money?
Produce as many M2 as there is the demand for it... or worse.. have them sitting on dealer lots ... there will be less M3/M4 sold... and less profit made for BMW on the M2 sale vs an M4 sale... and the dealer will make less money on each M2 sale as well.

Limiting M2 sales clearly is a WIN (BMW AG) WIN (dealer) situation for BMW.

So why not just limit M4 sales and force everyone to buy an M6?

[PackPride85]

Originally Posted by Oliver1

So why not just limit M4 sales and force everyone to buy an M6?

Because the M6 is almost 50k more than the M4.

[Papethova]

Originally Posted by PackPride85

Because the M6 is almost 50k more than the M4.

And not really cross shoppable

[hyperzulu]

Anyway, I'm guessing we won't see anything until December? The 1M was digitally revealed in December, right? Can we just get a date so I can come back when there's something new to see? This whole "it'll be released when BMW wants" is fine, but can we at least get a date? The baiting is stupid if you have nothing in the water...

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by hyperzulu

M3 Adjuster, unfortunately this is not de beers. BMW sells many models and has competition. If BMW had a monopoly in the market, then they could afford to play the supply and demand game in their favor. If they make less cars than they could, they make less money than they could. Simple. Sure, as a consumer you may end up paying more for the car, but as a manufacturer, BMW earns the same on every car they sell to INDEPENDENT dealer networks. How much we pay the dealer is mostly irrelevant. I say mostly because in truth, as I said, BMW doesn't have a monopoly so shoppers could choose a different $50k sports coupe instead of a more expensive BMW. BMW understands the industry in much more complex detail than your simple supply and demand examples. To assume a manufacturer limits production simply to affect the market is short sighted. Only a company with a monopoly in the market can afford to do that, and again this is far from the diamond industry.


As for why a manufacturer would want to limit supply of a model: for one, it's harder to build high production vehicles. You have to deal with supply chains that are harder to maintain. Logistical problems rise.

I only went to simple supply and demand examples so you could keep up...

AS I mentioned before.. VOLUME is king. And when you are producing and selling an item... it gets much cheaper to produce an item if you are making more of them.

How much does it cost to make 100 units (pick an item!) .. 1000..units.. 100,000... One million?
The cost drops the more you make..

So.. clearly.. even if each vehicle.. whether it is a 1 series or an i8.... as you say.. netted BMW AG the same exact amount to produce each unit.. . or even let's say... 1,000 units.. do you really think that the landed cost of a 2 series is the same as that of a 3 series.. when the ratio that BMW is selling is.. per the August sales data.... approximately thirteen thousand 3/4 series vs one thousand 1/2 series ..?

The cost to produce the 3/4 series gets cheaper the more that they are produced.. this is also why the gran coupe is b a model that adds little to production costs but allows more sales of the same chassis.. It's clear that the 3/4 series are produced in far more volume than other models.. and are a serious profit center- really it's core! - for the brand. The 5 series is not near the same chunk of the lineup as it has been in the past.. due to the X5

Originally Posted by Oliver1

So why not just limit M4 sales and force everyone to buy an M6?

As others commented.. clearly.. they cannot move very many 6 series models.. It doesnt matter how much profit is in each sale when you can't sell them! I mean really... they sold 258 last month.. Sheesh
this isn't rocket science... all I am doing is explaining what you already see to be true. The bread and butter model for BMW is the 3/4 series... and clearly... when looking at all the models in the lineup.. The 3/4... 5 series.. X5...X1... and X3/4 are the models that sell and also likely earn the most.

[hyperzulu]

You're like an undercover troll. I'm kind of over you already, so I won't bother responding. I just hope you one day find yourself a good laxative... or prune juice.