B.M.W. service

Sir,

May I, as a B.M.W. shareholder, rush to the defence of the B.M.W. Company and its products.

It is quite true that the after-sales service could be better, but we must remember that the English Concessionaires are limited by a relative lack of funds, and, indeed, experience. The B.M.W. parent company has not had an easy time since 1950, and production costs have, I understand, threatened its existence on more than one occasion. It is, additionally, only within the last few months that the Overseas Representative, Mr. Horst Zimmerling, has attempted to set up here a sales and service organisation comparable with the excellent organisations existing in France, Holland and Switzerland, etc., etc.

At the same time, the entire B.M.W. organisation, and indeed the entire Quandt Group, is really small when compared with its German rivals Volkeswagen, Opel, and Mercedes-Benz and, as we all know, it is always the smaller enterprises that get the buffeting in difficult years. I do not have the latest production figures, but it is, I think, fair to state that annual production of the 1800 series has not yet ever exceeded 2,500, compared to a Volkswagen production of over 790,000 in 1961 for the 1200 model, and a Mercedes production in the same year of over 60,000 for the 220 model. It may be some indication of relative production if we remember that, in the same year, B.M.W. produced 1,518 of the 8-cylinder models, and indeed less than 40,000 of the 700 series, a far smaller more popular model than the others mentioned.

P.V. Korda – Chalfont St. Giles.

[It is good to note B.M.W. have keen shareholders, but there has been no explanation from the Concessionaires—surely they care? When distributing the best 1800 in the world, large or small—they should look after it—W.J.T.