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Thread: Approaching a dealer about BMW Individual

  1. #1
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    Approaching a dealer about BMW Individual

    Has anyone here ever bought a BMW with BMW Individual optioning and/or BMW Individual Manufaktur offerings.

    I'm not talking about the Individual paint offerings that you can order on a new BMW. I mean things like custom stitching on the headrest and customized individual paneling.

    I live in Canada and the dealers around me are all sales oriented and pushy. They don't seem the least bit interested or knowledgeable about BMW Individual or BMW Individual Manufaktur. They want to make a deal the week you meet them and give you the ocld-shoulder when you contemplate about the exterior colour and packages for too long.

    I am interested in a 4 series coupe and would like my name stitched on the headrests (I have seen examples of this), snake skin interior paneling, and a removable dog seat fabricated from the same leather cut as the rest of the car's interior. have seen/heard examples of these modifications being done. This will cost money of course, but it can only be done by BMW Individual/Manufaktur.

    What's the best way to approach a dealer so that they can take my imagination seriously?

    Anyone have experience dealing with BMW Individual Manufaktur in Canada?

  2. #2
    Pelican Parts's Avatar
    Pelican Parts is offline Senior Member Supporting Vendor
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    Hello and welcome to the forum! I'm not sure that everything you want can be done/ordered with the BMW Individual options. The options are pre-set to a certain degree; meaning that you have a choice in interior colors and styles of woods; but unless it's already manufactured by BMW, it's not available. The snake skin paneling will have to be done at a custom shop, not through BMW; as will the fabricated removable dog seat. I don't think that they can stitch your name on the seats either. Where did you see all this and are you sure the work was done by BMW?
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pelican Parts View Post
    Hello and welcome to the forum! I'm not sure that everything you want can be done/ordered with the BMW Individual options. The options are pre-set to a certain degree; meaning that you have a choice in interior colors and styles of woods; but unless it's already manufactured by BMW, it's not available. The snake skin paneling will have to be done at a custom shop, not through BMW; as will the fabricated removable dog seat. I don't think that they can stitch your name on the seats either. Where did you see all this and are you sure the work was done by BMW?
    I got these ideas from a mixture of sources. The official BMW Canada page on Individual Manufaktur shows pictures of some of their works, including what appears to be snake skin paneling (https://www.bmw.ca/en/topics/experie...anufaktur.html).

    The stitching on the headrest, I learnt about from an info page on the BMW smartphone app.

    The dog bed, I heard about that from various sources, including this one (http://www.bmwblog.com/2016/03/05/bm...make-anything/) that speaks of BMW Individual Manufaktur.

    I'm sure all this costs money, and takes time to conceptualize and order through the official pipeline running from the dealer to BMW Individual Manufaktur, I was just curious if anyone here has experience ordering a new BMW with such customizations.

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    I think some of the stuff you want is a little beyond their normal scope of work... plus, BMW Individual can and will turn down jobs based on how it will look. If they don't think snakeskin leather will look good covering the interior, they won't do it. And a name on the headrest? I can't think of a better way to ruin it's resale value (except maybe snakeskin seats).

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

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    Quote Originally Posted by amsoiloilbottle View Post
    ...so that they can take my imagination seriously?
    LOL, so you are aware of how others perceive your bizarre desires, haha

    I think snakeskin is an amazing and unique choice, I'd happily buy a car with snakeskin interior.

    Your own name stitched to the headrests is really odd - put your spouse/partner's name, okay, but your own name is pretentious. Dog chair is an absurd waste in my opinion, but whatever floats your boat.

  6. #6
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    Things that noted in https://www.bmw.ca/en/topics/experie...anufaktur.html are new to me, but from 10 yr of BMW ownership, and active forum member, my understanding is same as BimmerBreaker . It indicated that BMW will have to make 2 cars with your custom build requirement, i.e. one to ensure successful crash-test, and one deliver to you. That is news to me, and does sound unpractical costly.

    For standand BMW Individual design, BMW's team will evaluate and decides what items a car buyer can install in their car. Porsche allows buyer to customize to their need, but BMW and Benz pre-selected those customization for car buyer to choose, and it is not a decision a car buyer can tell them. It sounds like now BMW offers "Individual Manufaktur" to allow that, with unknown cost.

    My understanding of this justification is that BMW is heavily relies on robotic manufacturing plant, and less on human labor. Any pre-selected manufacturing has to be pre-programmed to their robotic manufacturing facilities with pre-selected BOM (bill-of-material). Porsche still maintains their relatively high human labor vs robotic facilities, so they can allow more choices. If "Individual Manufaktur" allows buyer to "borrow" these designers and crew, then it really going to be expansive.

    Give BMW customer service center a call, and share with us whether this program is available in Canada, and the procedure/process.

    As a more practical side note:
    If you really so incline to get those custom panel, there are auto leather repair shop in Toronto that should be able to fill in those roles. Furniture repair shop who has access to wide varieties of leather and snake skin material should able to make one for you, and they will be cheaper than BMW (asks body shop or BMW indy shop to remove the panels for you). Both of these shops have machines for leather stitching, leather choice, trimming, etc.
    Last edited by feels1; 09-26-2017 at 12:47 PM.

  7. #7
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    Where in Canada are you? BMW Moncton in the maritimes, has in my experience been the best dealer for things like that in the country. The dealers in Calgary are COMPLETELY useless, yet only marginally worse than 9/10ths of the dealers in Toronto.

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