Ruby Black 2011 X5 35d

[jdcolombo]

Hi everyone.

Today we took delivery on what may be the only U.S.-spec Ruby Black X5 in existence. It is a 2011 35d. Ruby black is very difficult to photograph. The car looks black except when it is in direct sunlight, and then you see this red metallic "overlay" to the black that is just gorgeous IMHO. The paint is a BMW Individual color that is not normally available in the US - we had to get special approval from BMWNA to get the car in this color.

Here are two photos, one shot of the full car (where it looks mostly black) and one closeup of the paint in direct sunlight where you can clearly see the red metallic flakes that give the car its red "shimmer" in sunlight:





The diesel is amazing; we haven't pushed it very hard since we're still in break-in mode, but acceleration from a stop puts our old 2008 30i to shame. Looking forward to putting some miles on it to check out the mileage and push the performance some.

John C.

[MINIz guy]

Very cool car. Is this a full BMW Individual car, or does it just have an Individual paint color?

[jdcolombo]

Originally Posted by MINIz guy

Very cool car. Is this a full BMW Individual car, or does it just have an Individual paint color?

Just the Individual paint. I really don't understand why BMW doesn't make the full Individual program available in the US for the 5 and 3-series cars, like they do in Europe (or, for that matter, any other country in the world; if I lived in Aruba, no problem getting a BMW Individual car, but in the U.S., forget it!).

John C.

[FSETH]

Congrats! Very nice X and the color looks amazing. In the first photo the front of the car looks black, but you can start to see the red undertones towards the rear where the sun reflections are. Nice 1 series too.

[Monty04]

Congratulations on having a unique color! Ruby black is really sweet looking. If that was available in the US, I would order it in a second.

[ard]

Very cool color.

Originally Posted by jdcolombo

I really don't understand why BMW doesn't make the full Individual program available in the US

I am pretty sure it is because US laws allow the consumer to refuse to purchase, and they don't want dealers stuck with pink and purple cars...

[soldmystang]

Originally Posted by ard

Very cool color.



I am pretty sure it is because US laws allow the consumer to refuse to purchase, and they don't want dealers stuck with pink and purple cars...

huh, that doesn't seem to discourage the South Florida P-Car crowd. i still wish i had jumped on the orange / leopard TT Leith had on their lot for about a week. 1FGLYTT

[mtech8]

How did you get the special permission from BMW? Beautiful color. I like it better than Carbon Black.

[Richard in NC]

Ruby Black looks great on the X5. I saw it once on an M6.

[jdcolombo]

Originally Posted by mtech8

How did you get the special permission from BMW? Beautiful color. I like it better than Carbon Black.

Well, it was involved. And expensive (the special order paint cost $5000). But here's how it happened. Last spring my wife and I decided we wanted a diesel X5, and knew that the LCI 2011's would be released shortly. So we waited. But when the LCI's came out, she wasn't very fond of the available colors (which she characterized as mostly a lack of color: silver, a couple of grays, black, etc. - deep sea blue was a possibility, but my 1-series 'vert is deep sea blue, so that was out and Vermillion Red just didn't turn us on). So she was poking around the internet and found that in every country of the world OTHER THAN the U.S., you can customize your X5 under BMW's Individual program, which includes some terrific (in our view) colors: Ruby Black, Azurite Black, Moonstone, etc.

So, we first asked our dealer about the possibility of getting a special-order Ruby Black X5; our sales rep contacted the head of regional sales, who said "no way." Frustrated by that, I wrote a letter to Jim O'Donnell, the CEO of BMWNA, noting that since all the X5's in the world were built in Spartanburg, there must be Ruby Black paint lying around there somewhere; so why couldn't BMW paint an X5 in Ruby Black for us? After all, if I lived in Windsor, Ontario, instead of Savoy, Illinois, I could order Ruby Black with no problem.

I actually never expected an answer to this letter. But to my great surprise, about two weeks later someone called from BMWNA and said that Mr. O'Donnell had asked this person to follow up on my "complaint." He in turn had contacted the production folks at Spartanburg, the U.S. sales execs, and the guys in Germany, all of whom agreed that it should be possible to paint an X5 in Ruby Black for us, if we were willing to pay the $5000 upcharge.

So, we asked this person to contact our dealer, and he put our dealer in touch with the plant manager at Spartanburg, who then got the production manager involved, and after several weeks, we had an order for a custom-painted X5 35d.

So . . . I don't know how to tell you to get this done other than write BMWNA, or have your dealer contact the right people at BMWNA. I suspect a large dealer who is better plugged-in to the BMW "power structure" could handle this for you. The key is not to take "no" for an answer if you really, really want this done. As the sticker below shows, it can be done!

John C.