Some people travel to Europe to see the Louvre and Saint Peter's Basilica. Chris Basse went there to pick up his BMW M5 in Munich, then drive the $90,000, 500-horsepower vehicle 140 miles an hour on Germany's autobahn.
"All I could do was laugh. I never felt anything like it," says the 36-year-old businessman from San Antonio. "The car is just made for those roads."
For years, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo and Saab buyers have taken advantage of European delivery programs, receiving sizable discounts by picking up keys to a car at its home factory.
What's new is that carmakers are breaking ground on sleek delivery centers and piling on perks to lure autophiles into experiencing the newest car smell of all.
This summer the new BMW Welt - Deutsch for "world" - will open in Munich. The glass-skinned facility, designed by CoopHimmelblau (a cutting-edge Vienna-based architecture firm), will host up to 250 customer deliveries a day, with cars rotating on turntables as they're introduced to owners.
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