BMW has dismissed fears about any negative impact on residual values its 3,200 Olympic Games vehicles will have, claiming every step has been taken to ensure they are returned to market in a cohesive manner.
Matt Bristow, BMW Group UK general manager of used cars, said the volumes involved were not incremental to the sales plan. From a remarketing and used car perspective, BMW intended to substitute the volume by reducing its staff car schemes.
“These cars won’t impact on the open market; disposal of the volume is business as usual,” Bristow said. “There will be no change in our young used disposal volumes; they are in line with previous patterns.”
The majority of the 3,200 vehicles, which include electric vehicles and bikes, are new to market, including the 320d Efficient Dynamics models which make up the bulk of the volume at 1,550 cars. Consequently Bristow expect demand to be high, which could result in a boost to residual values.
“These cars will be the first back in the market and dealers will be hungry for them,” he said. “We will also be able to sell them internally to staff and their families.”
The mix of models and specification has been selected specifically not to impact on re-sale values. All cars are fitted with sat-nav but, says Bristow, “they are not over-specced; have been sensibly specced with a variety of options to appeal to the dealer network”.
He added: “We will be engaging with our dealer network with a programme for them to take on this volume. It won’t be a problem.”
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Bauer B2B group editor Stephen Briers has been an automotive business journalist since 1995. He has been editor of Fleet News since 2009 and before that was editor of Automotive Management for almost seven years. He now oversees both brands, as well as RAIL magazine.
Lional Mooring - 19/08/2012 11:16
Seems like BMW staff won gold with their company offer.