[bluecrabby]

My salesman and the lady in charge of ordering at the dealership both said that the BMW USA regional product trainers visited their dealership last week. They were told that the full leather seat option "could be available" as early as March.(forgot if they said it was "March production" or that they could start ordering leather in March) Originally they said leather option would not be available until the MY 2024.

Who are these BMW "regional product trainers" and can their comments/opinions be trusted? Are these the same as the Genius people?

Thnaks!

[igott]

Regional product trainers are the individuals that train client advisors on new models/changes. They're often given early production models to drive to dealerships in, so they can get more familiar with it, and then to also show off to dealership personnel.

When I was a client advisor, I would lean on my RPT when I got questions I couldn't answer, as their knowledge tends to be more in-depth on vehicle specs. Ours was/is awesome, but maybe there's some less-than-stellar RPTs out there. I'd trust mine if they told me that leather was coming.

I could also see leather not being an option on x1's ever, as it's something BMW as a group is clearly trying to get away from, and well, it's an x1.

[bluecrabby]

Originally Posted by igott

Regional product trainers are the individuals that train client advisors on new models/changes. They're often given early production models to drive to dealerships in, so they can get more familiar with it, and then to also show off to dealership personnel.

When I was a client advisor, I would lean on my RPT when I got questions I couldn't answer, as their knowledge tends to be more in-depth on vehicle specs. Ours was/is awesome, but maybe there's some less-than-stellar RPTs out there. I'd trust mine if they told me that leather was coming.

I could also see leather not being an option on x1's ever, as it's something BMW as a group is clearly trying to get away from, and well, it's an x1.

So these trainers are employees of BMW USA or the dealerships?

Leather seat has always been an available option since day one for the U11 X1 in Germany, EU, UK and most countries.(except US/Canada, of course). Of course, we also get stuck with the subpar gas-only engines. (again, unlike the above countries/regions who all get to order it with hybrid or the iX1 full-EV version of the X1)

[igott]

Originally Posted by bluecrabby

So these trainers are employees of BMW USA or the dealerships?

Leather seat has always been an available option since day one for the U11 X1 in Germany, EU, UK and most countries.(except US/Canada, of course). Of course, we also get stuck with the subpar gas-only engines. (again, unlike the above countries/regions who all get to order it with hybrid or the iX1 full-EV version of the X1)

Yes, they are BMW employees.

We just seem to get the shaft on certain things. I had an individual wanting to get Tacora red interior on an... m340(?) a few years back --- it wasn't available on the US spec, but was available on the canadian spec. Would've cost north of $5,000 to get that put into his order.

[bluecrabby]

Originally Posted by igott

Yes, they are BMW employees.

We just seem to get the shaft on certain things. I had an individual wanting to get Tacora red interior on an... m340(?) a few years back --- it wasn't available on the US spec, but was available on the canadian spec. Would've cost north of $5,000 to get that put into his order.

about 20 years ago, my former best friend ordered a red 318i convertible with red interior.(even had bright red seatbelts) It looked amazing. Of course, she was only able to do that because she wasn't in the US.