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In Reply to: Yes!! posted by Blauer Blitz on April 28, 2002 at 01:59:24:
you should recall that the m5 is a limited-production-model car (originally controlled to 1,000 cars per year for release into the u.s. market) - a showcase model if you will - that is intended to demonstrate bmw's technical prowess in the high-performance market, and to be first-in-its-class from a luxury and refinement perspective...this is not a mass market/mass-appeal car, and the pricing will reflect that fact accordingly.
historically, the 3-series - m3s included - have been bmw's bread and butter from a profit perspective. hence, the historical and current production and pricing levels on the 3s - m3s included.
that said, bmw are required to at least cover development and all production costs on the new 4th gen v-10 m5s on a fully-absorbed basis. the msrp will be in the range of usd79,990 and usd84,990, a bargain when considering the m5's performance-level and the price of the model's competitors in the super-exotic market.
dealer premiums during the first two years of the new model's release will range from between usd50,000 (during the first few months of the model's release) and usd15,000. allocation will, as usual, be geared to bmw's best dealers in the major metro centers, who will, at least initially, offer msrp pricing only to their best customers and only in the case of direct-order cars; the rest will be required to pay the going-rate premium, which should be of no concern to a larger percent of the population than you would otherwise think.
production will, of course, be offered to all dealers throughout the u.s., but at levels reflecting dealer-profitability from the home-office perspective. dealers in non-metro centers will, quite naturally, wish to preserve their relations with their local constituents - or in the absence thereof, with non-local buyers - and will price at msrp what few m5s they receive. the waiting list will reflect this fact.
the above off-the-cuff analysis is, of course, subject to extraneous (read, another 911, wwiii, mpg-legislation, oil-as-a-weapon, etc.) and internal factors (read, the decision to actually produce the m6 and to place that model as the apex of the m-world) that are unknown at this point.
just my humble opinion.
cheers.
cp
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