I remembered this discussion from years back, on another board. It took a few minutes to find it.
The VIN codes are not universally applied; in some cases manufacturers take liberties with some of the code letters, most notably the country code. It can be W for Germany meaning that BMW AG is the parent company, or it can be 1 for North America meaning that is where the plant is, or it can be decided some other way based on % of European content, essentially games being played for the tax authorities. X5s have had various designations, particularly in the early years, due to the above.
None of that matters in terms of where the X5 was manufacturer, because the plant location is digit 11, L for X5s. All X5s were manufactured in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and should have an L as the 11th digit of the VIN.
The confusion (better referred to as an urban myth?) over German-built X5s seems to have come from the W in the first location of the VIN of some X5s.
An article from 1999:
Quote:
BMW shuns 'Made in USA' code
VIN switch could confuse buyers, investigators
By James R. Healey, USA TODAY
GREER, S.C. -- BMW, hoping to portray its U.S.-made models as equal to those it builds in Germany, is violating convention -- and possibly federal regulations -- in assigning vehicle identification numbers to models manufactured here.
Z3 sports cars and X5 sport-utility wagons, models made only at this plant, have the Germany code "W" at the start of their VINs, instead of the U.S. "4" assigned to the factory.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which polices VINs, says it is investigating BMW's switch. NHTSA uses VINs to identify vehicles in safety recalls.
Legal or not, BMW's move could confuse buyers about a car's origins, confound law-enforcement and insurance-fraud investigations, and put the owner of a stolen vehicle at risk of a fraud charge.
BMW began the switch to "W" last year "to reflect our confidence that these vehicles are every bit as good as anything built in Germany," spokesman David Buchko says.
"We are in compliance with the regulations," he says. "We couldn't change the identifier without the consent of NHTSA. They know and have given their approval."
"That can't be true," says Dorothy Nakama at the NHTSA chief counsel's office. "If anybody here did that, they didn't have the authority."
NHTSA contracts with the Society of Automotive Engineers to assign the VIN's first three characters, identifying maker and country of manufacture. The VIN is a combination of 17 numbers and letters.
SAE assigned this plant "4" at start-up in 1994 and has no record of approving a change, SAE spokesman Dave Schwartz says. "They would have to come to us, and we would not give them that approval. We assign according to the dirt the plant's built on, not the headquarters of the company."
The VINs of all vehicles made for U.S. sale are recorded by the National Insurance Crime Bureau. NICB data are used by police and insurance investigators. "If you don't know what nation it was produced in, it would screw up your investigative process," says Ed Sparkman at NICB.
One predictable problem from BMW's switch: A VIN-savvy lawman investigating a stolen vehicle notices that the first character is "W," for Germany, but the 11th is "L," BMW's internal code for the U.S. factory. Because the "W" and "L" contradict each other, the investigator might turn on the owner, suspecting that person invented a VIN to collect insurance on a non-existent car.
"A 'paper' vehicle; happens all the time," Sparkman says.
|
|
