Further evidence of slow start to sales in the US

[tiburonh]

Spotted this on Bimmerfest.com tonight. Yet another dealer in what is supposed to be the prime launch market (i.e., California) announcing very publicly that they have not even come close to selling out their initial allocation of i3's. This on top of similar posts from dealers in the San Francisco area. Here it is:

"If anyone wants an allocation I have plenty available............
__________________
Warmest Regards,

Greg Poland
Pacific BMW
800 South Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91204
818 254 1491
www.PacificBMW.com
[email protected]
Euro delivery, PC delivery, Out of state-new and used car sales
Hours:T-F 1-8 PM,Sat 1 to 8pm, off Sun and Mon."

 

[Hwy1rnr]

I expect that the Glendale store would get a healthy allocation. Curious what that number is, "plenty" being 4 of 40 allocated or 10 of 20?

 

[Alexander99]

Sonnen has 15 slots. All fully loaded. Don't know how many are taken... But is been 2 weeks since I got the email and as of this morning they still have "several".

 

[Zony]

If memory serves me... Monterey CA BMW has allocated 7/15 slots to date... quite a bit of interest in the test drive event held last week - they turned folks away.

 

[bxb40]

Strange that CA is slow to adopt the i3. In my area (NY-NJ-PA tristate) most allocations dealers had are gone. I ordered the last orange REX at my dealer...

 

[jgetz]

I think it's a combination of a multiple factors.

1. It's a brand new model, which always makes some people nervous. I know a lot of people who won't buy a model in the first year of its release.

2. It's not so much fun to buy a slot, when you want the car. Now. The production on mine was supposed to start the first week of March, but instead I got a call saying it was going to be delayed 3 months. That would probably be enough to drive some people to something else.

3. The price point is a little high for some people. My understanding is that these initial models are basically fully optioned, which puts them around $52K.

4. The US is behind the curve with electric vehicles and a nation-wide charging network isn't in place yet, which scares some people.

In my completely non-expert opinion, I think once the cars actually start hitting the roads here and people see and hear about them from owners, sales will take off.