Supposedly first customer to get new 2014 M3

[[TW]Fox]

The F10, whilst not a "bad" looking car, is pretty uninspiring to look at (sorry Fox) and just blends in with all the other cars on the road.

It's an executive saloon, not a sports car - it's not supposed to be brash and standoutish. A chap in a decent suit doesn't stand out as much as a guy walking around in a clown suit either

 

[lemonade]

Agree with the E60 comments, the design was ahead of its time and looks really fresh today, being one of the more controversial Bangle era design, I used to find them fugly but the design grew on me over time, and you notice them on the road as they look distinctive, whereas the 5 series that followed it I can't remember when I ever saw one probably because they are so anonymous to look at!

 

[Gaygle]

The price different may only £40 per car but multiply that by 100,000 cars sold and the saving soon adds up. Then add the number of people who pay approx £1k to upgrade lights and you're soon approaching double digit million.

One must assume that if a £250 51 plate Fiat Punto 1.2 comes equipped as standard with projector headlights, that it isn't out of the questions to standard fit them to a £40000 high end 14 plate BMW...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201404103222611/

 

[Jonnycoupe]

BMW list price of a 2007 pre LCI E60 headlight unit: £476
BMW list price of a 2007 LCI E60 headlight unit: £510

An insignificant difference probably mostly accounted for by the LED turn signals rather than the LCI light has a projector. There is no material cost of repair reduction purely from omitting projectors there, is there?

That's not really trend pricing, those glass balls aren't cheap, but your solid in noting LED aswell. Out of interest a hat's the pre LCI xenon price as that's when the car was homologated... Also I'm not sure if customer retail prices are used. For a typical 15kph impact the lamps can be a significant portion as you only need to break a mounting leg to require.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

The price different may only £40 per car but multiply that by 100,000 cars sold and the saving soon adds up. Then add the number of people who pay approx £1k to upgrade lights and you're soon approaching double digit million.

It's not even close to that from the supplier and then D&D and tooling is washed into the price to build the cars. The price at dealers is purely guesswork, balancing and markups.