BMW number 1 in Supplier relationship management

BMW has the best conditions between all the German cars in the US, I am talking about free maintenance and quality of service, and I did not expect to see BMW number in SuRe (Supplier Relationship). Porsche, which is the least breaking car, is one the second place. Mercedes, which is in the “Golden Middle” is on the third place.

IHS analyst Matteo Fini, said: “The key reason for the improvement by BMW, according to suppliers, was providing them with the potential to make a profit over the lifetime of a contract.” In other words, suppliers believe in success of BMW and they have no doubt with helping BMW. This rating was made by 5 criterias: profit potential, organisation, trust, pursuit of excellence and outlook.

BMW has the second place for organisation,that shows the quality of communications with the supplier. Also  BMW was the second for pursuit of excellence, a concept that shows at the extent to which the car manufacturer achieves competitive advantage by getting the best-in-class technology delivered to the customer. BMW got the the third place for profit potential, which is defined by factors such as productivity gains and payment for parts.

Some people say that German manufacturers show profit potential throughout a deal’s lifetime as a major reason for the high ranking.

http://www.supplymanagement.com/news/2012/bmw-tops-ranking-in-supplier-relationship-index/

 

Audi tries to be the best

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/04/audi-records-best-quarter-and-monthly.html

 

Audi becomes a bigger part of the car market every year. Previously, Mercedes and BMW were holding the best sales among German car makers but know Audi chose a great policy how to get more customers. They offer free extended warranties and their maintenance is lower than Lexus and Mercedes have. BMW, however, has a great sales because of free maintenance. Every person dreams of having a car and paying for gas and insurance only. Audi project managers think that it is too pricey for them to have free maintenance and free extended warranties for free, because their extended warranty is 6 years for new cars and 4 years for people who buy pre owned cars.

At the same time, in Europe, Audi has a loss in sales. In general, in Europe people have less desire to buy new cars today, but BMW and Mercedes are not experiencing loss in sales. It can be explained with different policies that Audi has in different countries. Audi forecasts to sell more cars next year and to be the best-selling German car in the USA by 2020. From my point of view, it is a bit early to give such promises, because Audi launched a lot of new cars in last 1-2 years. As everyone knows, people like everything that is new, so Audi had a growth in sales also because of new models that people are willing to buy.

And of course Audi can give different numbers to mass media, just to show how good they are. From my personal experience, I can see a lot of Audi’s on the road nowadays, but I can not say that there are more Audi’s than BMW or Mercedes. By saying, that Audi have great sales, some people who want to buy a new car, might think that Audi is better than its competitors and buy it.

Audi’s SUV, for example, are more expensive than Mercedes Benz and BMW one’s. BMW and Mercedes have their own factories in the US (BMW in South Carolina and Mercedes in Alabama). Audi expects to built a factory in Mexico (VW, that is the same concern as Audi, have a factory in Mexico already), so this can reduce the price of Audi’s SUVs. And by building this factory and reducing the price for SUVs, they can grab part of the market from Mercedes and BMW.

Generally speaking, Audi have a great plan to become the best selling German car in the USA, but who knows, what BMW and Mercedes will offer in the nearest future..