WAITING time for a new BMW car could be slashed to as little as 10 days from the time of ordering after the installation of a new computerised ordering and production system. Current lead times vary from about three to six weeks, depending on the model, but the German manufacturer has installed workstations in its outlets to radically speed up the process.

Online ordering makes it possible for dealers to feed 'made-to-order' requests directly to BMW's production department, book build slots, and provide definite delivery dates instantly.

The system, known as Customer-Oriented Sales and Production Process (COSP), has been operating in Germany since 1998, and has now gone live in the UK, the Netherlands and Austria. Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, France and Italy will be on COSP by the end of the year.

A spokesman for BMW said: 'The overriding objective of this project is to offer each customer their personalised car on their dream date. It will also lead to significant cost-savings for us.'