11:20 am, January 11, 2023
BMW has halted all car sales to police forces in the UK with immediate effect and shut down its sales centre in London.
BMW’s International & Specialist Sales Division, based at its Park Lane, Mayfair, dealership closed this week.
A team of around 20 people arrived at work to be told the department was shutting down. BMW Park Lane is consulting impacted staff.
BMW told Car Dealer that it would now be ‘prioritising sales to retail and corporate customers’ and moving away from sales to the police and other authorities.
The halt of sales to the police follows a number of forces across the UK restricting duties carried out by BMW police cars featuring the N57 diesel engine.
Some forces stopped the cars being used for high speed pursuits and relegated them to ‘less stressful’ duties.
The N57 engine features in the 330d, 530d and X5 models used by police up and down the country.
Forces have seen a number of cars engulfed in flames, the most serious of which claimed the life of police officer Nick Dumphreys who died after the BMW he was driving in Cumbria caught fire on an emergency run.
BMW said the problem with the N57 engine was down to the ‘particular way’ police use the vehicles and that there was ‘no need for action on any civilian vehicles’.
One serving traffic police officer, who wished to remain anonymous, told Car Dealer: ‘We have had no end of problems with the N57-engined BMWs.
‘After the fires, a lot of our cars were just put aside and we weren’t allowed to use them.
‘The problem comes from the fact we have to leave them idling at a scene to keep the lights running for a long time and then, if another call comes, blast them at full speed to the next job – the engines just hated that.
‘The end of sales of BMWs to police forces is a huge thing. They’ll be missed despite the problems. They’ve been used by forces for decades.’
Forces are now swapping to Volvo V90 and XC90 models as well as Volkswagen Touaregs.
‘This really is a sad state of affairs, but I can understand why BMW has done it – we’re probably a pain in the ass and we get the cars far cheaper than they can sell them to normal customers,’ the officer added.
In a statement, BMW told Car Dealer: ‘With high demand for our cars continuing to outstrip supply, we will be prioritising sales to our retail and corporate customers in the future and moving away from some areas of our authorities and specialist business.
‘BMW Park Lane has historically been responsible for specialist vehicle sales and so now is being restructured.
‘It is proposed that some responsibilities will move into the BMW UK National Sales Company (NSC) in Farnborough. BMW Park Lane is now entering into a consultation period with a small number of impacted staff.’
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said it could not comment on the commercial decision to end the sale of BMWs to the police, but did issue a statement on the problems forces had experienced with BMW models.
- Conmen taunt dealer saying they’ve made £100k cloning his firm
- The most unreliable and least satisfying cars to own
- Tesla prices in free fall as data shows huge drops in value
National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on police driving, Deputy Chief Constable Terry Woods, said: ‘A national position has already been adopted regarding the end of life of the effected BMWs.
‘Vehicles that have been assessed as at risk and unsuitable for police use have been removed from service and their engine made unusable prior to disposal. Any remaining usable BMWs with the engine type identified are subject to rigorous monitoring.
‘Our priority is to ensure the safety and the long-term integrity of the equipment our officers use.’
Car Dealer Live – the future of the car dealer – exclusive conference features talks from leading car dealers, Google and Auto Trader among much more. Find out the full event details and book tickets.
