Cheers London Lad. That is what I understand as well. Only the models destined for US and Canada have had the strut removed. I took this matter up with BMW corporate and they were of very little help.

They said other improvements have been made in the car and it was BMW Planning Dept. that decided that the strut should go.

I would expect that there would be a higher probability of liability issues for BMW if someone with the spare tire was injured whilst removing the tire from the compartment.

I had the strut installed by dealer and the rattles started after that. Perhaps a coincidence. The tape on the latch points did help quite a bit, but a rattle still remains...just less often.