Delivery brought forward a month now delayed by 6 months

Here's the chronology

1. Ordered April '14 - told to expect delivery (to UK) November '14

2. Last week in August '14 dealer said "Your car has gone in to pre production and is status 1200." - told to expect delivery early October - happy

3. 2nd week in October, dealer said "your car and 3-4 others have been rescheduled for manufacture in March 2015.

The dealer claims not to know the reason for the delay. Contact with the factory and BMW UK is apparently by email as a matter of course, with an expected 3 working day response rate. This feels like a very amateur excuse for new car salesmanship. I've only bought a BMW once before about nearly 20 years ago and was sort of hoping things had improved. Even Alfa Romeo are better this.

I'm wondering if it's because HQ have decided to prioritise factory capacity to other markets (US?) at the cost of a handful of upset UK customers or whether the dealer or BMW UK have screwed up somewhere. Without naming names I had assumed [stupidly it turns out] that (because of the location) this dealer was 'flagship' dealer with some clout/leverage, but so far their demeanour on this has been feeble.

So sorry your car is delayed. It's likely there was something wrong with the batch and BMW chose to put the batch at the back of the cue. Better to get a good i3 than a recall.. :?

The i3 buying experience situation is different in the USA verses the UK. In the USA, you're buying the car from the dealer, and he's getting it from the NA BMW subsidiary. In the UK, the dealer is acting as an agent for BMW in Germany, and in effect, you're not buying the car from that dealer, but direct. In the USA, the dealers can order an i3 for 'stock' and some dealers have 'extra' ones sitting, awaiting someone to walk in and buy it. Plus, if they have one on order, and you want one with specific options, if it hasn't gone into production yet, that production slot can be modified to meet your specific options, even up to a few days before production starts - this can shorten your time to delivery significantly verses putting your order in at the bottom of the list. BMWUSA seems to have originally negotiated a larger portion of the production capacity than some other markets. But, BMW did start to sell the vehicles about 6-months earlier there, verses in the USA. SO, I think, it was thought that the initial response to focus all production to Europe would meet the initial demand. Obviously, they were wrong, and have ramped up production, but there are limits in both raw materials and the machines to build the things...it takes time to expand the supplier network, build additional production lines and purchase and install robots, etc., and train people to make the things.

As a sad result, as demand remains strong, those initial decisions in contract between BMW and BMWUSA are being honored, and a fair amount of production is coming here. SOme dealers have embraced the model, and sell it aggressively, so they may not have any vehicles in stock (other than a demo, maybe), but others may have a good selection sitting on the lot. In the UK, corporate BMW wouldn't allow that, but the independent dealers in the USA can order as many as they want (up to their max quota), and can beg, borrow, transfer (if the other shop is willing) cars from areas where they may not be selling as well. When I got mine in June, my dealer had 2-3, but none as I wanted, but were able to get one from a nearby dealer, and I had it in a week. Different countries, different contracts, different selling model. It is what it is. It's not that magically, the USA is getting more arbitrarily, that's what they initially contracted for.

Nobody likes to wait once they make up their mind what they want, and maybe in the next 6-12 months, production will catch up to demand, but maybe not. Then, it may end up being a fairly short delay.

Earlier, they had problems with their supplier getting the eco tanned leather for the Terra models, and it was on allocation which slowed down delivery of that trim line. I'm sure there are similar growing pains potentially with other items. THen, there's the issue with the KLE...if you're going to replace it, you might slow production down so that you could put the updated one in the new cars coming off the assembly line rather than continue with the old ones (and they stopped making them, so that supply is limited) and go to the extra expense and bother to swap it out later. The new ones are (apparently) being installed at the factory, but who knows how fast they've been able to boost that production of replacements verses new. As the temperatures cool in the northern hemisphere, and the s/w tweak was applied, actual failures of the KLE should be limited, but then, that needs to be replaced, with, hopefully the new design so it doesn't need to be done again later.

kc1 said:

Here's the chronology

1. Ordered April '14 - told to expect delivery (to UK) November '14

2. Last week in August '14 dealer said "Your car has gone in to pre production and is status 1200." - told to expect delivery early October - happy

3. 2nd week in October, dealer said "your car and 3-4 others have been rescheduled for manufacture in March 2015.

The dealer claims not to know the reason for the delay. Contact with the factory and BMW UK is apparently by email as a matter of course, with an expected 3 working day response rate. This feels like a very amateur excuse for new car salesmanship. I've only bought a BMW once before about nearly 20 years ago and was sort of hoping things had improved. Even Alfa Romeo are better this.

I'm wondering if it's because HQ have decided to prioritise factory capacity to other markets (US?) at the cost of a handful of upset UK customers or whether the dealer or BMW UK have screwed up somewhere. Without naming names I had assumed [stupidly it turns out] that (because of the location) this dealer was 'flagship' dealer with some clout/leverage, but so far their demeanour on this has been feeble.

Click to expand...

Looking at what you have ordered must be something wrong with the sunroof or auxilary heater design. I've got a rex on order in UK with most of the same options and was told today build date has come forward to Jan when it was Feb before. Can't see they would let me jump the queue on you unless that was something that needed a redesign, retest and build? Maybe. I ordered in August.

Either that our they have something that's such a great improvement in the BEV they think you'd be happy to get a later delivery. Like a 30kWh battery ?? But can't see them aping all orders between now and then so honestly i have no idea.

Let us know when you find out. Unless it's a serious design defect they shouldn't be pushing you back to March & should give you an earlier build slot.

kc1 - have you ordered Suite interior? My i3 was ordered May 2nd this year, all options except sunroof and was kicked back from week 40 to 48 - reason given was that the "sustainable" leather was in short supply.

I'd be a bit teasy right now if it was pushed into next year because of the seats.

kc1 said:

Here's the chronology

1. Ordered April '14 - told to expect delivery (to UK) November '14

2. Last week in August '14 dealer said "Your car has gone in to pre production and is status 1200." - told to expect delivery early October - happy

3. 2nd week in October, dealer said "your car and 3-4 others have been rescheduled for manufacture in March 2015.

The dealer claims not to know the reason for the delay. Contact with the factory and BMW UK is apparently by email as a matter of course, with an expected 3 working day response rate. This feels like a very amateur excuse for new car salesmanship. I've only bought a BMW once before about nearly 20 years ago and was sort of hoping things had improved. Even Alfa Romeo are better this.

I'm wondering if it's because HQ have decided to prioritise factory capacity to other markets (US?) at the cost of a handful of upset UK customers or whether the dealer or BMW UK have screwed up somewhere. Without naming names I had assumed [stupidly it turns out] that (because of the location) this dealer was 'flagship' dealer with some clout/leverage, but so far their demeanour on this has been feeble.

Click to expand...

If I were you I would be so pissed by these shenanigans on the part of BMW that I would cancel my order. That said, I can only add that I am incredibly happy with my i3 BEV and that, if someone were to tell me today that for some bizarre reason they had to take take it away tomorrow but would bring it back in six months, I would find that six month stretch very painful but would be delighted at the end of it to get the car back.

Best of luck to you.

kc1 said:

Here's the chronology
...
2. Last week in August '14 dealer said "Your car has gone in to pre production and is status 1200." - told to expect delivery early October - happy
...

Click to expand...

That timeline doesn't seem accurate at all. Mine was manufactured, shipped, delivered, and I drove it off in 20 days total (Sept 3rd - 22nd). To be told to expect it to take 7-8 weeks from pre-production is either very generous expectation management, ignorance of the true time tables, or outright dishonest. Sorry to hear you're getting what seems like a run-around. With that said, quite a few people have experienced delays in relation to the sustainably-sourced leather.

@mark1 - No no Suite/leather - went for Loft in the end.

@elptex, I'm abbreviating at that step, It actually went "the good news is your production been brought forward. It will be made in September for Oct delivery...", then when the date got nearer it was "oh yes, it's unusual that it's still at 1200 status, we'll send a message to find out why...", then "haven't heard back yet, we'll send another message...", etc. etc.

@tiburonh, yes, it does seem as though BMW feels confident it can exploit early-adopter investment, in the complacent assumption that I'll just hang in there. I'm not impressed with that sort of arrogance and I'm not an enamored devotee of the i3 or the brand. If it isn't sorted out in my favour next week, I will indeed cancel.

kc1 said:

@mark1 - No no Suite/leather - went for Loft in the end.

@elptex, I'm abbreviating at that step, It actually went "the good news is your production been brought forward. It will be made in September for Oct delivery...", then when the date got nearer it was "oh yes, it's unusual that it's still at 1200 status, we'll send a message to find out why...", then "haven't heard back yet, we'll send another message...", etc. etc.

@tiburonh, yes, it does seem as though BMW feels confident it can exploit early-adopter investment, in the complacent assumption that I'll just hang in there. I'm not impressed with that sort of arrogance and I'm not an enamored devotee of the i3 or the brand. If it isn't sorted out in my favour next week, I will indeed cancel.

Click to expand...

If you really want an EV, the Mercedes B electric (if available in the UK -- I'm not sure it is) and the new VW Golf EV are worth a look.

tiburonh said:

kc1 said:

@mark1 - No no Suite/leather - went for Loft in the end.

@elptex, I'm abbreviating at that step, It actually went "the good news is your production been brought forward. It will be made in September for Oct delivery...", then when the date got nearer it was "oh yes, it's unusual that it's still at 1200 status, we'll send a message to find out why...", then "haven't heard back yet, we'll send another message...", etc. etc.

@tiburonh, yes, it does seem as though BMW feels confident it can exploit early-adopter investment, in the complacent assumption that I'll just hang in there. I'm not impressed with that sort of arrogance and I'm not an enamored devotee of the i3 or the brand. If it isn't sorted out in my favour next week, I will indeed cancel.

Click to expand...

If you really want an EV, the Mercedes B electric (if available in the UK -- I'm not sure it is) and the new VW Golf EV are worth a look.

Click to expand...

Or a Telsa P60D with no options. Well maybe the Tech pack considering it now includes autopilot. About £57k though. Might even get it delivered before your BMW at the rate they are going (uk shipments of the dual motors don't start till next Autumn). £59k if you want to use superchargers. Which means you may as well pay an extra £5k for the 85kWh battery with unlimited miles warranty and make it £64k. LOL - the cost of 2 i3 BEVs.

kc1 said:

Here's the chronology

1. Ordered April '14 - told to expect delivery (to UK) November '14

2. Last week in August '14 dealer said "Your car has gone in to pre production and is status 1200." - told to expect delivery early October - happy

3. 2nd week in October, dealer said "your car and 3-4 others have been rescheduled for manufacture in March 2015.

Click to expand...

Odd. I've just come back to the forum. My dates were similar. April order then extended date due to the leather problem.

I feel lucky indeed to get mine this week - it was manufactured on 13NOV.

No one mentioned the typhoon issue yet? I hear that raw carbon fibre from Japan ? couldn't get to Michigan and they had to turn the furnaces off for a week. Takes a week to cool down and a week to warm up again. Hence 3 week delay.