A couple of things about "special ordering"......... One thing that should be cleared up is that ordering an interior color that is not shown as a combination with a certain exterior color is not considered a real "special" or "custom" order. Unfortunately BMW NA has always confused people by showing only certain interior colors available with each exterior color in their brochures and website. Unfortunately they don't clarify that these are only "recommended" color combinations and in fact any customer or dealer can have whatever exterior/interior color combo that they want....AS LONG AS BOTH COLORS ARE SHOWN IN THE US BROCHURE OR BMWusa WEBSITE. So you can't choose an exterior and/or interior color that is not available in the US for that model, but as long as both ARE available in the US then the color combos shown in the brochures and US website are irrelevant....you can think of them as recommendations only, and if you choose a combo that is not part of the shown combinations BMW NA would not even raise an eyebrow because it would be considered just a standard order.

Now, the real problem comes when you want to order a color that is not available on that particular model in the US. Yes you do have to find a dealer that is willing to at least TRY to place the order through BMW NA, however, that is not that hard to do. What IS hard (and most of the time impossible) is for BMW NA to accept the special color order.

In the past 12 years I have tried to order non-standard BMW colors for three of my BMW's and a European cloth upholstry for another one. By "non-standard" I mean that the color I wanted was either available on another BMW model or available on non-US BMW models, but in all cases they were standard BMW paint, not BMW Individual or other manufacturer paint. The first time back in 1994 BMW NA accepted my order on an M3 for a standard BMW paint from another BMW model for a $1300 additional charge, but within a day they changed their mind and would not allow the order. A couple of years later they accepted my order on an E39 for a European Cloth upholstry with no questions asked, and they did it with no extra charge. Then back in 2000 BMW NA refused my order on an X5 in Gray Green Metallic, which at the time was not available in the US but was used on European X5's, which were built and painted on the same assembly line as the US ones in Spartanburg. They said they will not allow any special color orders during the first year of the E53 production because it was considered a production "ramp up" period. The last time I had to deal with BMW NA on a special color order was two years ago when I wanted to order my 545 with a 645 color and a European 5 series leather color (standard 5 series interior color, but not available in the US), and once again BMW NA refused the order.

BMW NA does allow some special color orders on certain models if they are part of the "Priority 1" program, but even then it is only one or two colors that THEY have pre-chosen to allow people to order.

I don't want to make it sound so negative as I do know that sometimes people are able to order special colors from BMW NA, but I am just describing my own first hand experiences with BMW NA. In all the cases I described it was not the dealer that was the problem (as a matter of fact he went the extra mile to get me what I want), but it was BMW NA refusing my orders.

If any of you guys are able to get a special color order I would love to hear about it. I am looking forward to the day that BMW NA stops messing around and starts accepting special color orders on a regular and consistant basis, so I would love to know if anyone is successfull at getting BMW NA to do special color orders. I asked the factory rep at the Dingolfing plant when I visited there two years ago and he said that if BMW NA is willing to order it then the BMW plants would have no problem painting the car another BMW color. As long as the paint is available at the plant there is no difference for them which one they use.

__________________
rodybmw