BMW in the News

[onboost]

Thought this might be of interest to some of you....





The carrier M/V Courage tipped at the port in Jersey City on Friday causing damage to over 370 BMWs. The ship was loaded with new 3-series and 1-series vehicles, including new V8 M3s. Around 70 of the damaged cars are reported to be total losses with others sustaining major damage. Word is that the M3s bared the brunt of the brutality. Extensively damaged cars will be crushed while those with minor damage will undergo repair at a receiving facility in Elizabeth, NJ, after which they will proceed onto dealers. Bimmers destined for European delivery customers were also on board, although it's not clear how those buyers will be handled in the wake of the incident.

This is a particularly harsh hit to BMW in terms of the new M3 and even more so for the owners awaiting their new V8-powered uber-coupes. We'd expect this unfortunately event will lead to an extension of the waiting period many potential customers will have to endure. It also means many dealerships are out of luck for a demo car. With the M3's competition coming on strong from the likes of Lexus, Cadillac and Mercedes one can only imagine this sort of setback might steer away a few potential buyers.

[jhm5]

BMW has officially confirmed this incident. Actually, the ship ran into really rough seas and that's where the cars bounced around, bumping each other below deck. 470 bmws damaged. These ships hold about 5,000 cars. This story has been floating around message boards a few days. This site seems to have a credible report - scroll down to the wrecked car pics.
http://www.motivemag.com/newsindex_motive.shtml

If you have a car on that ship, I don't think bmw will try to pull a fast one - i think you'll be notified of any damage.

[JC5]

Wonder if the cars will just go to the crusher, or if the engines and other stuffs will be salvaged.

[ErikT]

This is all over "the internets", so I imagine there's a bit of mis-information floating around.

I did read somewhere that any that any that have been repaired will be sent to dealers with full disclosure...some form stating what was repaired. They're also checking alignment on all of them to make sure there was no other damage.