BMW has come up with a creative solution to counter the chip shortage: the brand will produce and deliver a wide range of models in America without a touchscreen for the iDrive system. It is not yet clear whether this will also apply to the Dutch market.
The iDrive system in a modern BMW can be operated in two ways: via the traditional rotary knob on the center console or via a touchscreen. The latter possibility is disappearing – at least temporarily – for BMWs currently rolling out of the factory, according to a post on the BMW forum Bimmerfest. This concerns the current 3 and 4 series (with the exception of the i4), the Z4 and the X5, X6 and X7. BMW confirms the news to the American website Edmunds.com. The cars are given the option code ‘6UY’, which stands for the removal of the touch function from the central infotainment screen. The operation is therefore always carried out by means of the rotary knob. Of course, all other functionalities of the iDrive system, such as Apple Carplay, Android Auto and speech recognition, are retained.
After signing a form, US customers receive a $500 discount on their new BMW as compensation. It follows from the post on Bimmerfest that this change will also be implemented in BMW’s European production. AutoWeek has asked BMW Netherlands to comment on whether the Dutch market will also be faced with touchscreen-less BMWs.
BMW is not the only manufacturer that uses a creative solution to circumvent the chip shortage. Previously, Porsche built cars with fake chips, Ford had incomplete cars roll off the factory line and Peugeot no longer supplied the previous 308 with the digital i-Cockpit in the last phase of its life.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl