Quote:
Originally Posted by dmlgc
IMHO
The problem with most management teams is too many freshly minted MBA students and not enough people that actually know anything about the business their in.
I think the lease business is dead for a few years. I suspect BMW to use the same sales model as they did with the X6, create a lot of hype then produce units slowly so there are waits. This will give the appearance of "exclusive" to the brand.
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I certainly agree that newly minted MBAs allowed to run free are bad news. But almost any management team will, in time, stagnate and allow inefficiencies to creep in. I have run two companies, one of them with over 500 people. It never mattered how much I swore I would keep things lean and mean, there was always justification for just one more staff member... and then just one more... and so on, until before you know it you have a bunch of fat that can be cut with little or no negative impact on the organization. Much as I admire BMW as a well-run company, I am sure they are not immune to this.
I agree with you about leasing. I shouldn't have said we'd see lease deals, but rather things like very-low-interest finance deals for purchasing the cars. That way, BMW doesn't have to commit to a residual value. Of course, we won't even see good finance deals if BMW sells everything they produce, but I wonder how likely that is considering over half of all BMWs are traditionally leased, and while BMW is raising prices, Mercedes, Lexus, Infiniti, Porsche, and Cadillac are lowering theirs -- at least, that's what is happening here in Canada. At some point the market will tell BMW exactly how much premium people are prepared to pay for that blue propellor.
An X6 50i configured the way I want it is slightly north of 100 grand up here in Nanny Land. I can buy a whole lot of very desirable vehicles for that money. If BMW Canada raises prices still further, I'm not sure how much extra I am prepared to pay, no matter how much I like the car.