DIESEL: Is the 4k worth it? It depends.....

[grover432]

Originally Posted by MrX

Thank you Grover432. Good points except for the point above. I do not think the dealer and BMW think the value of the V8 will suffer following the introduction of the diesel. It is because the V8 has been around since 2007 so they have in stock and are ready to deal. The diesel is a novelty for now and it attracted a lot of attention because it finally made to the US shores after being acclaimed worldwide. I believe when the dealer starts getting them more frequently it will get discounted too. It happened to a colleague from work who purchased an M3 from our dealer just after its introduction and now you can find the same car at a discount and low APR. Patience and do not get emotional are the secret here and in many other financial decisions including real estate...

MrX,

In my neck of the woods, SUV's in general, have fallen out of favor. It seems that people were scared by the high fuel costs of last summer and although fuel prices have dropped, most people believe they will eventually head back to where they were. the SUVs that use the most fuel are sitting on lots the longest and are being discounted the most. Take for example the Mercedes GL550; US dealers have them piled up on their lots while the GL320 Blutec is selling reasonably well. If you look at the lease end values (36 months) on those 2 models, you will see a 4 - 6% difference. This is a clear indication of where MB expects to see future values of these gas guzzlers.

It is no different with BMW. If the dealer has allot of them, it's because they ordered too many, or people aren't buying them; hence the deeper price cuts. My local dealer has 3 X5 (3.0si) left over from 2008 and zero 4.8's. Why? They scaled back on ordering 4.8's 6 months ago and only brought them in on order. Maybe our smaller market dictates a different strategy, but I think the trend is following in larger markets as well.

I agree that discounting on the 35d will be less in the initial period, however unless BMW holds back production, by spring when SUV sales slow anyway, customers will be able to get a much better deal.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.