Appearantly the E65 isn't selling well @ Irvine BMW

Earlier in the year, there were never very many E65s sitting on the lot. In fact, there were a LOT of used E38s, presumably from early trade-ins. Over the past month or so, though, the numbers of E65s sitting on the lot have started increasing. It was 8 or 10 a month ago, and yesterday it was actually more like 16 or 17 (there were actually a 2nd row in front of the ones Dan noticed). And I've only seen a couple of them on the road around here, which is surprising considering popularity of BMWs around here as well as E65-class cars overall.

Hack,

Funny, but everytime I stop by one of the local Porsche dealers, I also see ~20 Porsches sitting in the lot... Go figure... Maybe 70+K cars really don't fly off the lot...

Kaz,

Your post explains it better - "...considering popularity of BMWs around here as well as E65-class cars overall." Oh well, maybe BMW is about to start having trouble selling E65's (as some predicted - YTD numbers are still strong though :thumb: )...

I still like them :thumb: Best contender in its class! TiGrey must look great!

Re: Re: Appearantly the E65 isn't selling well @ Irvine BMW

Dave 330i said:

U're right, but the majority of Irvine and UCI are made up of Aisans, not white republicans. Do you know that 41% of UCI undergraduates is Asian. I heard they use chop sticks in the cafeteria. This is not a racist remark, just the facts. In fact, my brother and his family live in Irvine, and my daughter will be attending UCI next fall.

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I've been at UCI for 11 years, and now also live here, and the Asian population is in fact 40%+ on campus, but that's not reflected in the population of the city. I believe officially the Asian population is somewhere around 20% now. However, the majority is still clearly the stereotypical OC conservative White Americans. There are about 2 dozen houses on my street and there are maybe 5 Asian households.

Of course, any self-respecting Asian buying in that category would buy a S-class or Lexus LS, so the E65 is assed-out anyways.

ALEX325i said:

Hack,

Funny, but everytime I stop by one of the local Porsche dealers, I also see ~20 Porsches sitting in the lot... Go figure... Maybe 70+K cars really don't fly off the lot...

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I wonder how many E46s the average dealer has on its lot :dunno:

Re: Re: Re: Appearantly the E65 isn't selling well @ Irvine BMW

Kaz said:

Of course, any self-respecting Asian buying in that category would buy a S-class or Lexus LS, so the E65 is assed-out anyways.

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I guess the I like the E65 because I am white :yikes:

Ultra-conservative (libertarian, really) too :thumb:

nate328Ci said:

I wonder how many E46s the average dealer has on its lot :dunno:

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This dealer usually has lots (20+)of E46s on the lot but yesterday there were definitely more E65s than E46s.

One of the other local dealers I visit usually only has a couple of E65s.

Kaz said:

This dealer usually has lots (20+)of E46s on the lot but yesterday there were definitely more E65s than E46s.

One of the other local dealers I visit usually only has a couple of E65s.

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Sounds like the GSM at that dealer got a little to trigger happy with the order button

The reason why the E65 isn't selling well at Irvine BMW, is that Irvine BMW doesn't know how to sell cars.

I live in Irvine (BTW, Irvine is 29.9% Asian), so it was logical for me to at least attempt to buy a car there. I had an experience similar to HACK's -- the salespeople didn't pay much attention to me. When I was finally able to ask one of them for a test drive, the guy told me he'd get the keys... after about 10 minutes of waiting, I walked. I haven't been back since.

I searched around -- Crevier, Sterling, etc. I ended up buying from Cutter. Keep in mind that Santa Barbara is over 2 hours away. The same week I bought my 325Ci, I was told by my salesman (Paul Ward) that two other Irvine residents had bought E65s from them because they didn't like the service at Irvine BMW.

As for why Asians don't seem to be buying the E65... I'd say it's because you have your frugal Asians (Lexus/Acura), and you have your pretentious Asians who think that if it costs more, it must be better (Mercedes).

atyclb said:

Are they selling them at MSRP, or are they marking them up?

One dealer in SoCal in particular (can't remember which one) had 10 M3's on their lot last year in May or June, at the height of the M3 frenzy.

Why? there was a $15,000-$20,000 markup on 'em.

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Only Ms and Cooper S are marked up on the window. But every M flies outta there instantly, even when SMGs were +15k. There was a black SMG/Euro19 marked at +10k. I guarantee it will be gone by the end of this week.

I, also, had a bad experience with Irvine BMW. I talked to a sales person at the Anaheim auto show. I gave him the exact options I wanted and told him to call me if he had it. After a few days I just assumed he didn't have it because he never called back. I ended getting my car at Steve Thomas BMW in Camarillo. The funny thing is they did a swap with another dealer to get the car I wanted. Guess where it came from... Irvine BMW. The guy from Irvine called me three weeks after I got my car. I told him that he was way too late and missed out on a sale.

Al right since we're bashing Irvine BMW....

I did buy my car there, but I know one of the sales managers and got a very sweet deal. But, before I pulled the trigger on the sales manager deal I was greeted with the same reception as everyone else. I went to the dealer 2-3 times and finally on the 3rd attempt I got a sales man that was worth talking to.

I also went to Crevier and walked the lot 3 times and never got so much as a hello. My tour at Crevier also included a visit in to the show room and again never a hello....

Oh well, my next car will probably be from Cutter. I'll make the 2 hour treck on a weekend and stay in Santa Barbara with the money I save!

The HACK said:

I'd figure Irvine/OC to be one of the biggest market for these things. White, middle aged, affluent REPUBLICAN capital of the world...These guys SHOULD be gobbling up these E65s.

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Now that's interesting.

Come to think of it, here in super-wealthy Fairfield County CT (home of "the stepford wife"), I've seen exactly ONE E65 on the road.

It was white and it was homely.

Ed

I had a decent experience at Irvine BMW. Sterling was kind of bad the first time I went, but the second time I went I was treated very well.

The difference was the way I was dressed. When I went to Irvine BMW and when I went to Sterling the second time, I was dressed to meet with clients. Slacks, tie, shoes all polished up. The first time I went to Sterling I was wearing jeans and a polo shirt.

If you don't dress the part, they don't bother (especially if you're younger than their 'average' buyer). Which is why I didn't buy at either of those places... those people need to get a clue. I can't stand snobs. :tsk:

--SONET

Back on the topic of E65s and their target market...If you drive through West L.A. on a regular basis, and 10 West in particular, you'd almost be guaranteed to spot one once a day. My sightings are fairly spread out, I've seen 5-6 different E65s driving to Santa Monica to play hockey on the weekends. Always on 10 West.

I've spotted two E65s driving on the 10 East, and one in Ontario Mills yesterday (wife dragged me to go shopping). It appears the E65 is well accepted in the fancy, fruity West side of L.A.

Irvine...

Last weekend, me, EricS, and Lefty (from the E39 roadfly board) all stopped by Irvine BMW to look at Minis. We were able to take the Cooper S out for a test drive after about 30 minutes of waiting around. There was literally a line of people waiting to test drive the car, but once you got to the front of it, they were friendly enough and let anyone take it for a spin.

We did the same thing at Irvine a few months earlier with the E65. At the time, the only E65 they had was the demonstrator car that we test drove. They didn't seem to care what we were wearing (though admittedly we didn't show up in rags). Jeans and polo shirt, no problem.

EricS actually bought a M3 w/ SMG off their lot FOR MSRP! They were marking them all up $10K, but Eric told them "give me MSRP and I'll drive it off right now." It took a few trips going back and forth but they eventually caved in.

As for myself, I bought my 540i from BMW of Riverside, not because I wanted to, but because they had the specific car I wanted. It turned out to be a very positive experience. I'd also recommend their service department; they might be a long drive for those of us in Orange County, but they're open until 10pm on weeknights and they have loaner cars (a 330i in my case) readily available.