Build stats
 

I'm a numbers person, and for a while I've been curious about different build stats for our cars (how many were built total, how many of each color, how many of the different models, etc). So a few weeks ago on one of my days off I started a "little" project that is going to take me forever to complete (if I ever do), figuring out those numbers.

I started by figuring out the VIN ranges for the different models (CG53, CG63, CH11, CJ51, etc). While I'm not 100% certain I have them completely determined, I'm about 85% certain I have them all. After that, I put together a couple spreadsheets, started running the VINs, and inputing their options into the sheets. Right now I'm only focusing on the "US" models (CG53, CG63, CG73, & CG83), but should I finish those I will move onto the 23 different models built for the rest of the world (which WILL take forever; there's over 160,000 CG11 cars built).

First note, the US spec models also include the cars built for Canada, but I have a way to separate those. Now, some basic numbers to whet peoples appetite (I can give more later when I get back home from voting/shopping). There were a total of 23,674 US spec models built (including Canadian, pre-production, & press cars). That number is broken down like this:

• 1995 - 7,831 total (3,689 auto, 4,142 manual)
• 1996 - 6,140 total (3,598 auto, 2,542 manual)
• 1997 - 4,666 total (2,727 auto, 1,939 manual)
• 1998 - 4,562 total (2,676 auto, 1,886 manual)
• 1999 - 475 total (275 auto, 200 manual)
• Total of 12,965 auto, 10,709 manual

Using my progress on the CG53 for reference, about 77% of those were built for the US, roughly 16% for Canada, and the rest are undetermined. Most popular color is Schwarz 2 (27%), followed by Hellrot (21.2%), Alpinweiss 3 (17.4%), and Bostongrün Metallic (10.1%). For the trim level, Base models make up 17.1%, Actives are 42.6% and Sports 27.9% (19.2% if you pull out the Club Sports).

Earliest US spec car was built on 5/26/1994 (preproduction model), the earliest for sale on 1/18/1995 (a Canadian market car), the earliest for US sale on 3/29/1995, and the last on 12/28/1998.

Overall, I'm only about 10% done, ~30% done with the '95s, ~54% done with the CG53s. I will edit this as I make more progress.

12/31/15 Update: Been slowly making progress on this project. Also, as there are only 200 Clubsports (and they are partially what started my interest in this project) and many people are interested in those stats, I've thrown some of those numbers into a separate spreadsheet up on Google Docs that can be viewed here. If you need help figuring out how to read the data, let me know.


Justin

Wow! Lotsa automatics. I'll hold on to the manual gearboxes and pedals for conversions. :cool:

Lots of cars period. Before I started this, I was under the impression, for whatever reason, that there were 10-12,000 built for the US market. If the US/Canada ratio holds up, it will work out to a little more than 18k out of the 23k. It's interesting to see manuals outnumbered automatics in '95, then it flipped for the remaining years (the same will not be true for Euro-spec models, as those 160k CG11s are manuals). Also, contrary to belief, not all '99 cars were built with the Sport package, however the ones I've come across without it were all Canadian market cars. I do have stats for interior colors and exterior/interior combinations, but those probably won't be as interesting until I get closer to completion.

Justin

Very Cool!!

I did not see this until now, but awesome work and I am interested to see what else you come up with!

Work on this has been slow, for several reasons (the main website I use for this went down for a month or so, work has been busy the last 2+ months, The Master Chief Collection came out in November, I've been planning a 12-day trip to Scotland, training for a 40-floor stair climb that I completed this morning....), but I am making progress.

I skipped ahead a bit and started working on the '99s, as there are the fewest of them. Got about 30 of those left and I will get those stats up. I've had to adjust some formulas when I run across new colors/options. I've also put together a summary spreadsheet that pulls together info (colors, color combinations, and options) from all of the years in one convenient place. I will eventually throw a copy of that online if anyone is curious.

Justin

Justin,

As this is something your taking your own time to do, I think most, if not all of us appreciate it greatly. This may be the only place to find this kind of compiled data on the makes/models etc. Be a couple months or a year+ to finish crunching your numbers, this thread will be up for a long time so a lot of people will probably get to use this information.


Personally I am looking forward to seeing were in the numbers my own ti sits. (97, active, boston green :wink:)

Small update at the bottom of the original post. I've thrown the Clubsport info into a separate spreadsheet on Google Docs.

Justin

If there were 23,674 of these sold in the US and Canada why do we only see a handful of them for sale now at any given time? I see more E46 Tourings and E30 M3s for sale than 318tis and those are waay more rare. Have most been junked or do people just keep them?

This is a great chart.

It seems my car is in a small group (98, manual, sport package, no sunroof), other than the 99's.

I'd REALLY like to know just how many 98 sport manuals were made without a sunroof. Particularly since the dealer tried to strong-arm me into ordering a sunroof...

Any idea how many 1999 black 318ti sport pack slicktops have been made?

I think all the 99’s were sports but no idea on how many did not have sunroofs.

yup, read that too.. I think only 450 were made for 99. - 250 auto, 200 manual. thats what i found so far.

anyone know how I can narrow down the production numbers of 99s made?

Did you search around here?

I seem to recall someone did a post with the production numbers for each year.

But I would say “clean” roofs are rare- when I ordered mine (‘98) I was told $500 of my deposit was non-refundable because “we don’t order BMWs without sunroofs.”

Maybe just my dealer but I have seen a ‘95 M3 LTW ruined by the installation of a sunroof...

yes jim, I have searched. the only thing i have seen posted is 475 total for 1999, with 275 being auto and 200 being manual. Looking to see how many of those 200 were slicktops.