BMW has assigned specific chassis number ranges for each variant of the 8 Series. Most of these numbers were actually used in production, but some were not. In cases where a chassis number was not used, one or more of the following reasons apply:
Market conditions prevented the complete expansion of the allocated chassis number range.
Due to a manufacturing defect, the car was withdrawn from public sale.
The transition to the new model/calendar year required a reorganization of the production
Automobile manufacturers handle their production statistics based on two information dimensions:
Model Year
Calendar Year
Model Year
The Model Year is defined as the period of time an auto manufacturer determines its sales, marketing and engineering support for a particular vehicle. The Model Year view is utilized by Japan, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, and other coutnries.
In the USA, the Model Year cannot exceed the January of the previous year. For example, a…
8er Options (definition): Factory equipment added to the vehicle over and above the standard and "series" offering.
Data provided. The table to the right represents the aggregated data for Options produced by the BMW factory for the 8 Series.
Options data was pulled from each individual 8 Series build sheet. From 30,621 build sheets, the data was analyzed either by country option codes (also known as Market Versions) or by specific Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) per…
Market Version (definition): The factory equipment required to meet a specified nation's motor vehicle laws. These specifications include lighting, emissions, speedometer/odometer, passive restraint and cultural standards.
Example: safety laws. Canada requires Daytime Running Lights (DRL) for all motor vehicles. DRL are "always on" lights for daytime motoring. For the E31, this required the BMW factory to install DRL within the 8er's ribbon lights and its associated computer programming within
