Customize your BMW

At first glance, the landscape looks rather different at BMW. Maintaining annual production of almost two million cars only works, of course, if processes are standardized as much as possible and interlock efficiently. But despite this reality, BMW employs a number of specialists in Munich whose job it is to go the other way. Thomas Schemera’s team at the BMW Individual Manufactory is responsible for fixtures and fittings you won’t find in the product catalog, and this brings him into contact with all sorts of fascinating people. “Most of our customers are very big on aesthetics and have a keen eye for every detail, ” says Schemera. “And they want to express their style in their car as much as they do in their houses and clothes.” Or, you could add, in their boats: Schemera tells us about a shipbuilder who had his sedan fitted with special wood trim so that customers would be immersed in his maritime style from the moment he picked them up at the airport. And then there’s the businessman who asked for salmon skin–covered interior trim accents in his car. Yes, salmon skin. But that was an easier request than the one from an Iranian gentleman who wanted everything – every inch of his car – trimmed in leather, right down to the wing bolt on the toolbox. In the end, more than 430 square feet of leather found its way into his BMW 7 Series.

Acacia koa in a BMW M6

The department head also has particularly vivid memories of the Hawaiian customer who brought a piece of acacia koa tree with him to a meeting in Munich to discuss his specifications. This is a species unique to Hawaii, and it’s unlikely the wood had ever been used in a car before. Now, however, there is a new M6 Convertible cruising around the islands with acacia koa onboard, and the customer couldn’t be happier. All these commissions – and hundreds of other ideas that would most likely have the development-center engineers shaking their heads in disbelief – are typical challenges for Thomas Schemera and his crew. So how long does it take to escort the various orders from the mind’s eye to the road? Naturally, the time required varies as widely as the special requests themselves. An order demanding a high degree of handcraftsmanship can take three to six months to fulfill, while if there’s only a special paint finish to consider, the time frame will be significantly shorter.

BMW Individual is split into Collection and Manufactory. The Collection is also included in catalogs, and offers customers items such as Merino leather interior and interior trim elements made from exquisite Japanese sen wood. The Manufactory is responsible for the precision work, putting it in direct competition with smaller manufacturers. But this automotive delicatessen pays its way, says Schemera – and the extras do come at a price. A special paint finish comes in at around $5, 000, while a polite silence surrounds the cost of larger-scale conversion work. The difficulties involved in meeting each order often lie not only in the craftsmanship required, but in areas the customer doesn’t see: crash tests, UV-resistance tests and odor tests have to be conducted with exotic materials, just as with the standard variants that have already been tested a million times. After all, a personalized BMW also has to meet the company’s high quality standards at the end of the day.

For manufacturers, the fruits of such investment are often initially found not on balance sheets but in a more personal connection between the customer and the brand – one they hope will pay dividends over time. Yet marketing psychologists also point out that customers can feel as overwhelmed with the car personalization process as they might when faced with configuring a computer or new bicycle from scratch. This is where the dealer can help, by providing their guidance and expertise to ensure that a genuinely high-quality product emerges.