[lateshow]

Hello all - New member here. I put in an order on my new 2011 X3 35i many weeks back. My dealership swapped allocations with another dealer to secure a March 21st build date. I was told that I could make changes to the build up to an undermined point. In other words, my dealer rep didn't know what that point was with respect to my build date, but he would try if I needed a change.

I decided a while ago to include Sat Radio....a relatively minor change.

Just yesterday I was notified that by build date was pushed to April 11 for an undermined reason, but that it "might be due to the spec change of your vehicle."

Is anyone aware of any recent timing issues that would be causing delays in Spartanburg or did I just get shafted for making a minor change to my car? Either way it's really dissappointing as I'm dying to get into my first BMW.

[ksoze]

Originally Posted by lateshow

I decided a while ago to include Sat Radio....a relatively minor change.

Just yesterday I was notified that by build date was pushed to April 11 for an undermined reason, but that it "might be due to the spec change of your vehicle."

A change is a change, irregardless of the price or scope.

The cars are locked in at least a week before production and is key to the regimented manufacturing process where materials are planned to the minute. No proof that the date change is due to your option change, but if the car was in 150 status, it could not be changed and he may have grabbed another open allocation while he could.

Your CA should have given you the option if he knew it would result in a production week change however.

[MA78]

This happened to me twice. And I never even made a change.

[sfax]

Originally Posted by ksoze

irregardless

What the ?!?!?

[jijioben]

Logistics and scheduling have exceptions. It can happen that a scheduled delivery is bumped for all sorts of reasons. That does not mean that your change caused the bump. There is a remote chance that they have a Just-In-Time allocation for supplies and their stock is so limited that any minor change will bump a delivery, but in that case the reliability of the shop floor is in question and I cannot imagine BMW would do such a thing for what is essentially a cash cow for them (considering how well sales are going).

I had to wait for nearly a month before my car was shipped from Toronto to Regina, not because it had not been produced or shipped to Canada, but because there was a shortage of rail cars due west. Sometimes these factors just pile up and we notice.

It all goes away when you take delivery

[sfax]

There are a lot of cases of existing orders for forum members in the UK where the dealer has said any change, even months before it's due to go into production, will adversely affect the delivery date. I don't see how this could be the case unless you introduce something that has a delay because of problems with suppliers

[bluesmachine]

See if you can delay it one more week and get the 6NR function.

[MA78]

I wonder if any electric components are made in Japan. If so, I wonder if the disaster there will effect production times. Just a thought.

[sfax]

Originally Posted by MA78

I wonder if any electric components are made in Japan. If so, I wonder if the disaster there will effect production times. Just a thought.

It could have a huge impact if there are any. I know for a fact that the new Touareg production was crippled by a fire in Russia that destroyed a factory that made body kits for the Touareg Altitude. Orders expected to take 3-4 months took 10+ months and buyers were livid

[ksoze]

Originally Posted by sfax

What the ?!?!?

Regardless of your calling me out me for the incorrect use of irregardless, I appreciate your noting my twisted use of the word, irregardless of my real intention

Cheers!

[sfax]

Originally Posted by ksoze

Regardless of your calling me out me for the incorrect use of irregardless, I appreciate your noting my twisted use of the word, irregardless of my real intention

Cheers!

You carry on ksoze, irregardless of what I say I still haven't forgiven you for being notwrong about 6NR!!

[MA78]

Originally Posted by sfax

It could have a huge impact if there are any. I know for a fact that the new Touareg production was crippled by a fire in Russia that destroyed a factory that made body kits for the Touareg Altitude. Orders expected to take 3-4 months took 10+ months and buyers were livid

Having lived in Japan and visited the Sedai area a few times, I can say with some certainty that nothing electronic was made in that area. But Chiba and Tokyo aren't that far a way, and a lot of electronics are made in factories in the northern part of Tokyo.

The whole thing is so damn tragic. I can't take my eyes off the news. Horrible.

[sfax]

Originally Posted by MA78

Having lived in Japan and visited the Sedai area a few times, I can say with some certainty that nothing electronic was made in that area. But Chiba and Tokyo aren't that far a way, and a lot of electronics are made in factories in the northern part of Tokyo.

The whole thing is so damn tragic. I can't take my eyes off the news. Horrible.

+1 It does put our silly car buying issues into perspective when you see people who have lost members of their family and friends, their homes, the whole street, the places they go to work and to school. All gone. I feel bad for even associating the Touareg delays with it now

[midlifecrisis]

Originally Posted by sfax

You carry on ksoze, irregardless of what I say I still haven't forgiven you for being notwrong about 6NR!!

I'm glad you folks are all properly orientated and can maintain a sense of humor.

[Beyu]

Originally Posted by MA78

Having lived in Japan and visited the Sedai area a few times, I can say with some certainty that nothing electronic was made in that area. But Chiba and Tokyo aren't that far a way, and a lot of electronics are made in factories in the northern part of Tokyo.

The whole thing is so damn tragic. I can't take my eyes off the news. Horrible.

I didn't know much about Sendai before the earthquake/tsunami but my family has a lot of family friends & business partners in Japan. Two of my parent's employees in their main office are from Tokyo and Osaka.

One of them has been in Tokyo for the past 1.5 months due to a family emergency and the other calls back home often. They both mention how their family complains about rationing power even as far away as Osaka is from Sendai. Japan's having to siphon power from one area to another so it's not surprising if production is slowed even if factories are no where near to the devastation zone.

[jijioben]

I also heard on the tech news that many chip fabs are down because their required supply of continuous power cannot be guaranteed, which would ruin any wafers being manufactured during a glitch. This affects all NVRAMS produced in Japan (which are not as many). But in terms of car production, I read in APress (I think) that Toyota is restarting production this week, while Honda will follow soon.

This is going to affect Japan very deeply and I am so sad to see it happen. I donated to the Red Cross, but that will only deal with the problem, not with its consequences. And they may be more long term than we imagine today. Hopefully the strong entrepreneurial spirit of Japan will allow them to forge on and ultimately thrive again.

[MA78]

My wife's dad is Japanese. They don't live there anymore, but a lot of her extended family is still there. We're trying our best to keep in contact, but it's touch and go. Really scary time for them.

I've donated money to the Red Cross, but that's just a drop in the bucket. We've decided that the best thing we can do is to go visit once it's safe to do so. Japan will be hurting financially, so the money from tourism will be a big help.

[lateshow]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I've really enjoyed keeping up with this forum since I put down my deposit. I'm learning a lot from you characters. I previously owned a Honda S2000 and their forum is outstanding. I'm looking forward to many years of BMW ownership going forward. I guess I can wait a few more weeks. It's only a car....perspective.

[jaymk5]

Originally Posted by lateshow

Hello all - New member here. I put in an order on my new 2011 X3 35i many weeks back. My dealership swapped allocations with another dealer to secure a March 21st build date. I was told that I could make changes to the build up to an undermined point. In other words, my dealer rep didn't know what that point was with respect to my build date, but he would try if I needed a change.

I decided a while ago to include Sat Radio....a relatively minor change.

Just yesterday I was notified that by build date was pushed to April 11 for an undermined reason, but that it "might be due to the spec change of your vehicle."

Is anyone aware of any recent timing issues that would be causing delays in Spartanburg or did I just get shafted for making a minor change to my car? Either way it's really dissappointing as I'm dying to get into my first BMW.

Mine was scheduled for 12th week of production, but when I had a dilema to change my sound system to pro in week 9, my SM mentioned if anything needs to be changed it better be done in week 9 itself, otherwise he said we have a very good chance of missign the week 12 slot, this was like 3 weeks before my production schedule. He also mentioned that the configuration for the car will be locked down 1 week before the actual production starts, but with his experience he mentioned not to change anything when we are close to 2 weeks. Finally after listening to both the sound system in dealership and I did not care much for the pro so I did not make any change.

So short answer is, if you have done this change 2 weeks before 3/21 which is like on or after 3/7, it may be the change that moved the date, this is based on the theory by my SM. But as other forum members mentioned it might not be related at all.

Mean while why don't you check to see if you have a X3 difference event getting scheduled in your area, if so, you can register for the same, if you happen to get a slot before your date of delivery, you will qualify for the $500 gift card from BMW NA, which you can use against accesories on your new X3. This way you might feel little better about the wait.

As other forum members mentioned when you take delivery you will know its very much worth the wait.

[Alanintx]

The alternator in my F25 was manufactured by Nippondenso, so the disaster in Japan may eventually have an effect. However, I have no doubt that BMW maintains a strong supply chain management discipline.