LexFather

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“What’s wrong here? You like working with us. You appreciate your job. But you drive a vehicle from a competitor?”

BMW may be topping the luxury sales charts here in the U.S. but over in Germany things aren’t so peachy and the automaker is resorting to some drastic actions to help boost its sales. At a number of its German factory parking lots, the automaker has attached more than 7,000 cards requesting employees who don’t already own a BMW to consider buying one.

As odd as it sounds, the information was confirmed to Bloomberg by BMW spokesman Alexander Bilgeri. The effort is the first of its kind in a three-decade marketing program to employees and is designed to raise awareness among the factory workers that they too are an important part of the company. Bilgeri was quick to point out that no one would be losing their job because they didn’t drive a BMW.

“What’s wrong here? You like working with us. You appreciate your job and income. But you drive a vehicle from a competitor,” read the cards signed by Ian Robertson, the company’s sales chief, Harald Krueger, BMW’s head of personnel, and Manfred Schoch, its top union representative.

Government incentives and vehicle scrapping schemes in Germany haven’t helped luxury automakers like BMW and Mercedes Benz as they have pushed towards cheaper models made by other brands. Sales for the BMW Group, which includes BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce, are down 21% for the first five months of the year, totalling roughly 488,000 vehicles.

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

The response should be "raise my pay and I'll buy one" How are the factory workers paid? Would it be economically feasible for them to buy a decent BMW?

MPLexus301

iTrader: (3)

If that is really what the flyer said...I am actually shocked. Let's take this apart piece by piece.

What’s wrong here?

Start off by implying that something is "wrong" with your employees...good. I am sure that is a way to rouse morale in the midst of this economoc situation.

You like working with us

Oh, really? Did they tell you that? Or are you just assuming that every employee is the bedfellow of BMW?

You appreciate your job and income.

Uh, yeah. That is why anyone works- for a LIVING. In this economy, everyone apprciates their job and income...how arrogant to state it like this as "coming from above".

But you drive a vehicle from a competitor

Maybe not everyone can afford a BMW? Or maybe not everyone can afford to maintain an older BMW? Or, just maybe, people have personal preferences for an MB, Lexus, Prius, or F150, and simply go to work at BMW so that they can earn an income. Why is BMW making this so personal?


All in all, this is a shocking and poorly illustrated move by BMW HR. It goes too far into people's personal lives and attempts to make them feel bad for not driving a BMW. On top of that, in this economy, employees don't need any other reason to be sweating about their positions. Again...why is BMW making this so personal and condescending?

Arrogance at it's finest, no matter the company!

Gojirra99

Over there, most BMW's sold are fleet vehicles anyway(and not the same high specs. car sold here), many companies get them for their employees at fleet prices, I assume BMW could offer their employees even more attractive prices. But I assume if they drive other non-luxury brands, they would pay even less ...

Milla...

-Or maybe the employees know something about the cars Mr Robertson doesn't.
-Or maybe the employees would if the design department put out something worth spending there hard earned money on.

Amini9

I think you over analyzed this card....

It's has a little humor and I'm sure employees get discounts...

They aren't dumb and they know of peoples personal preference...

They don't expect everyone or probably even 50% of their workers to even consider buying a new bmw.

The G Man

Well, these are people building these cars, and if they dont even want to buy it, why would I

AJL0365

I work for a Chrysler dealership and they have asked me if I wanted to trade in my Lexus for one of their products. At first I thought they were joking but they were not. I came right out and told them

why would I buy a car from yall when I drive them already everyday?

First of all,I know how the cars function, so thats the main reason, but I love my Lexus but I work for chrysler and I drive their cars numerous times throughout the day, no need to buy one while i can just drive one off the lot for free.

Same with these workers, They see them everyday, they are probably sick of looking at them, dont wanna fix and put together one and then drive home in theirs

huddleston

iTrader: (3)

well said.

Faymester

Maybe employee wants a big CUSHY boat ... and drives an old Cadillac Fleetwood to get said ride

AD_SC3

iTrader: (1)

You my friend hit the nail on the head

DustinV

This is ludicrous.

Obviously there will probably be some sort of employee discount but the insurance and other costs on a BMW are higher than on your usual Volkswagen, Toyota or other mainstream car which these guys probably drive.

I wonder if the management at Ferrari (or Bugatti) would consider such a move...

Threxx

I was going to reply and say BMWs in Germany are quite a bit cheaper. Because they do sell models that are far lower end than we are sold here... such as a 110 horsepower N/A 4-cyl with very little electric accessories or frills, cloth seats, etc. I remember back when I was in germany for a few months (this was 14 years ago, though... I was in middle school at the time) that these lower end cars were very inexpensive... especially when you converted deutschmarks to dollars due to our favorable exchange ratios and such. I mean I remember you used to be able to buy a basic BMW for more or less the same price as you'd pay for a Taurus or Sebring of the same era!

But then just to be sure things hadn't changed much I went over to their website... bmw.de
Well they still sell the inexpensive models like I remember.

But I don't know if it's changing currency conversions or what but they're way more expensive.

The absolute cheapest base model 116i coupe with not a single option and only 110hp w/ manual trans was 22,000 euros! Convert that to USD and it's over 30 grand!

Upon further investigation I see that the typical household income in Germany is fairly similar to in the US once you adjust for currency conversion. Taxes are higher though, as are unemployment rates.

Can you imagine a car company here bashing its employees for not paying 30 grand for the cheapest car they sell??

I've heard BMW has similar issues to GM/Ford/Chrysler with labor unions that have it by the *****, and demands ridiculous wages, though... so maybe their complaints are more reasonable if directed at people that are making 100 grand a year to work on an assembly line.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Cars in Europe are so expensive because of taxes - they pretty much double the cost.

For instance in Russia a GS300 (yes, 300, not 350) starts at over 60k because of the taxes. But at the same time personal income tax tops out at 13%.

Big Andy

Denmark is the only European country that pretty much has a 100% tax on new cars. Most of the major markets, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, you only pay sales tax i.e between 15-20%.