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Any new BMW that is ordered from a US dealership is eligible for PCD, either purchased or leased, which would be a Priority 1 order as a customer has ordered the car from the dealerships available production allocation slots (the exception being a European Delivery order). The BMW can not come ‘off the dealerships lot’, as the factory ordered BMW is transported to the BMW Performance Center located in Greer, SC directly from the factory. This time frame is 4-6 weeks depending on where the BMW is manufactured, either Germany (1 series, 3 series, 5 series, 6 series, 7 series and Z4), South Africa (3 series sedan) or Spartanburg, SC (X3, X5 and X6). The factories of the BMW Group can found here under the Production tab -> Production Worldwide -> Where We Build Our Vehicles.
The evening before your PCD, customers and one guest are provided a hotel room courtesy of BMW North America (BMWNA) at the Greenville Marriott. The hotel has two BMW courtesy cars provided by BMW NA and upon contacting the congeire, they will pick you up at the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport, Century BMW (if dropping off an end-of-lease BMW) and provide transportation to downtown Greenville. Upon check-in, you will receive a welcome package from the Performance Center describing the events and times, and a waiver release for the driving portion at Performance Center. Don’t forget to ask the hotel staff about the complimentary WiFi provided by BMW at check-in!
The dinner is on BMW at Giatu Restaurant, which is located within the hotel, consists of a choice of salad, main entree and desert. Also included are two drink vouchers (provided upon check-in) for either a domestic beer, house liquor or house wine.
The shuttle leaves for the Performance Center at 7:40am, so be sure to check-out prior to leaving the hotel and bring your luggage with you. The hotel will assist you with your luggage.
Upon arriving at the BMW Performance Center you can leave your luggage and personal belongings behind the front desk with the security officer, but be sure to bring your camera for the driving part of the delivery. You will pass back by the front desk prior to your delivery
First, is a 30 minute ‘class-room’ introduction with a BMW Performance Center professional driving instructor that goes over the safety technology that is included across the BMW brand of vehicles such as Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Brake Drying function and when the DSC system should be deactivated.
Next, is some time on the BMW Performance Center track with a professional driving instructor: 1) learning about the ABS, 2) DSC on the slid pad and 3) Salon driving on a short circuit. At all times safety is first and you are closely watched by the driving instructor during the driving activities, as you and your guest will participate in a car similar to the one that you will shortly be taking delivery of. Each driving session is for 30 min, for a total of 90 min for the driving aspect of the Performance Center Delivery Experience. The best line from Donnie is always, "NYC", meaning ‘not your car’ so that is your ‘go ahead’ to drive the Performance Centers BMW’s at maximum performance.
Finally, the monument that you have been waiting for has arrived, the delivery of your new BMW! The performance center has two delivery ‘bays’ and two cars can also be delivered in the front entrance lobby for a maximum of 4 deliveries in the morning and 4 deliveries after lunch. The afternoon delivery customers will then head to across SC Route 101 to BMW Manufacturing facility to view production of the US built X5 and X6 in Hall 50 while the am customers take delivery.
There is 2 hours allotted for the delivery process by a BMW delivery specialist, which will include going over the standard accessories and options which were ordered with your vehicle, iDrive operation, activation of Sirius satellite radio (however, if you already have Sirius account, bring that account number with you so a second account is not created upon activation), BMW Assist set-up (your US based dealership activates BMW Assist prior to PCD so if your want a specific log-in e-mail and/or password provided this to you client advisor the week before your PC date), and any other questions you may have. Personally, the Performance Center staff does a much better job of explaining the features than the European Delivery BMW Welt Staff, as BMW Assist and Sirius is not activated during the BMW Welt delivery process.
All of the delivery customers will meet up again around noon and enjoy a hot lunch in the Cafe at the Performance Center. The lunch is on BMW, so enjoy yourself! Be sure to try the German bratwurst.
After lunch, its time for the M5 hot lap! This has always been an unforgettable experience at the Performance Center. You and your guest will ride along with a BMW Driving Instructor around the track of the PC at high speeds and end with drifting on the skid pad. I filmed this ‘ride of a lifetime’ in HD by attaching a video camera to the front bumper of a M5 for a ‘road-view’ perspective and can be viewed here (just click on 2011 06 23 BMW Performance Center M Hot Lap with Donnie picture icon).
The X-drive Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) off-road course is next. The performance center has an off-road course where you and your guest drive a X5 once around the course. In the past, only X3 and X5 customers drove on the off-road course, but with the introduction of x-drive across the BMW product line and the X6, I assume that this was changed that all delivery customers participate as it’s a great marketing tool on BMW NA’s behalf.
After the off-road course, the delivery customers that already took delivery in the am go across SC Route 101 to the BMW Manufacturing facility to view production of the US built X5 and X6 in Hall 50 (the X3 is built in Hall 52 and is currently not viewed on the tour) and the other customers take delivery in the afternoon. I personally prefer taking delivery before lunch, so you can spend time at the BMW Zentrum after the factory tour. Don’t forget to visit the gift shops both at the Performance Center and BMW Zentrum, as the shops stock different merchandise.
Overall, the BMW Performance Center Delivery is THE way to enjoy delivery of your new BMW and have a wonderful experience with a guest. By now you are asking, "How much does this cost?". Just like the standard factory covered maintenance for 4 years/50,000 miles there is NO CHARGE for PCD. The total value is at least $235 (hotel @ $110, dinner for 2 @ $65, breakfast for 2 @ $30, lunch for 2 @ 30, 2 hours of professional driving instruction, 2 hour delivery experience with a BMW product specialist, X5 off-road-course and BMW Manufacturing Factory Tour with admission to the BMW Zentrum).
A special thanks to Donnie, Frederick and Willie at the BMW Performance Center for 5 memorable experiences.
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