once upon a time, colour options of bmw.

[alpina b5]

Was cleaning up my study room today when I found the old catalogue.So many exterior colour options back then. These days 3/4 of the colours in the catalogue is probably under BMW Individual.View attachment 25983View attachment 25984

 

[_M_]

Can't agree more. Its quite disappointing the lack of colours.. like in the F30 line up, the only one that has real colour is the Melbourne Red. Even the Imperial Blue is almost black. The rest are shades of white/grey/silver/black.

BMW, if you are reading, we also want JOYful colours ya arty:

 

[Game-R]

BMWs back then were extra special. Also they were all brought in CBU, right?

That would explain the extra available color range compared to the CKD models that are limited in range for the sole purpose to maximize the profit margin and hammered together with a Malaysian sense of build quality.

 

[mizhan]

SKD's are brought in with bodies painted. no reason why we can't see more colour choices.

 

[Game-R]

Thats something I didn't know. Good to know at least the paint and body coating is original Bavarian handiwork.

But any additional color other than the common favourites (silver, darker silver, shinier silver, etc.) equals additional cost for cars the dealers can't move as fast out of the showroom.
Faster sales = Greater profits.
Also back then, BMW owners, especially 5-series and 7-series, were as loaded as they were picky on style. Nowadays any housewife or mistress walks into their showrooms dragging their 'Maybank' by the arm
So it a greater "profit sense" to provide colours that are most likely to be chosen by the growing majority of buyers who would be willing to buy the badge on a dead cat.

 

[alpina b5]

quite the opposite. back in 2000 malaysians could buy ckd bmw's from auto bavaria and cbu's from cartrade. cbu exterior colours were limited but for ckd if i was not mistaken you could choose any of the colours in the catalogue. (interior was a different story, cbu's interior came in grey which was not an option for the ckd). not sure if the green leather was brought in.


probably its a trend for colour choices to decrease decade by decade http://www.e21-board.de/wbb//farbtabelle/metallic.html http://www.e21-board.de/wbb//farbtabelle/normal.html


would seriously love it if i could get the f30 in oxford green or achatgrun