Munich appeal court rules for BMW over dealer margin reduction on 7 Series

German BMW dealers who had taken legal action over the company's decision to reduce their gross margins on sales of the new BMW 7 Series have received a setback in the verdict of a Munich district court, which last week confirmed on appeal a lower court's ruling of May 2003 that BMW had the right to amend its contract terms on model margins.

A judge's comment that dealers could preserve their margins by reducing end-user discounts when a manufacturer increased its wholesale prices but not its MRSPs was greeted by dealers affected by the court's decision as completely unrealistic in today's market conditions.