BMW updates their vehicles to keep their designs distinct and avoid competitors at the midpoint of their car life cycles. That is done about three years after the initial manufacture of the car.
This renewal of some parts of a BMW, including taillights, headlights, and some interior parts, is what we refer to as LCI.
For instance, BMW recently made LCI updates for the F30 3 series by making its rear lights more LED. LCI stands for Life Cycle Impulse. To be more basic, you can call it midlife cycle refreshment.
Not only BMW, other car brands such as Hyundai, Mercedes, and Audi also refresh their vehicle features. In this article, you’ll learn what BMW LCI is and study some BMW LCI updates.
What Is an LCI?
LCI is one of the most challenging acronyms that BMW drivers wrestle with. So, what does it mean when someone has an LCI BMW model? LCI (Life Cycle Impulse) was a term BMW developed to refer to vehicles with mid-cycle updates.
Many people in the BMW community think that LCIs are cosmetic facelifts to the original BMWs, which is not true. It’s a brand enhancement to make the vehicle more compelling and to make their brands more unique.
These brand changes include enhanced wheels, paints, and interior color changes. However, BMW uses no specific formula for an LCI. Also, there isn’t any set time frame for the LCI updates to take place.
Why Does BMW Make LCI Updates?
Firstly, let’s consider the full lifecycle of a typical BMW, that’s about seven years. This period is too long for the BMW manufacturers to produce an exact car with factors such as technology varying gradually.
So, to keep customers popping in, you need to make some changes to the initial car to make it adaptable to the current era. That’s where LCI updates come in.
They aim to make the car model more decent and modern to make it adaptable to the current technology. According to the current vehicle inventories, it also enhances the vehicles’ body design.
That makes the cars keep their freshness even when new competitions arise in the market. Sometimes these changes can be drastic or improve the outlook of the car. But so far, the BMW LCI updates have made a big difference in the Brand, boosting its market.
What Are Other Terms Used for the LCI Update?
In terms of formality, BMW uses LCI as their internal term. However, other terms such as late or early models are used inside the BMW community. In addition, the BMW drivers also call the LCI to update a facelift. Since the update occurs halfway in the models’ life cycle, it is a divider between the late and the early model versions.
How Long Is BMW’s Life Cycle?
A BMW has a life cycle of 7 years. Like any other car, the BMW’s life cycle consists of various stages.
Introduction Stage
At this stage, the car is fresh in the market. So, people are just noticing its compelling features to find out if it’s worth the price.
Growth Stage
Here, the BMW’s model fame is growing in the market, driving many people to purchase it.However, cars at this stage depend on how they faired in the first stage. That means that if people didn’t like your car model or didn’t put a reasonable price, you’re likely to fail.
Maturity Stage
The stage mainly occurs when the BMW has attained a market saturation. Moreover, this is the longest stage in the market.
At this point, the brand competes with other upcoming vehicle models in terms of shape, technology, and other features.
That can easily lead to lowering prices or adjusting other features to ensure that the BMW model maintains its market value. Also, LCI updates are very key at this stage. These updates are likely to take the brand back to its market peak.
Decline Stage
This stage is when the car market goes crumbling. That’s a result of outdated technological features and other physical features. Not unless the vehicle brand is a sentimental customer favorite, the market moves as small. However, BMWs have an added advantage for enabling LCI updates. That makes the lifespan a little longer.
How Do I Know If My BMW Is an LCI?
It can be challenging to know if your BMW is an LCI or not. That’s because BMW doesn’t advertise or sensitize the media about performing Life Cycle Impulse updates.
They take the updates internally, and they don’t make the changes in the VPN number or badge them. Even the old car owners don’t know about the changes.
However, that doesn’t mean you won’t know about these changes. You can know that by learning your vehicle model or by researching the changes made during the LCI.
For example, you can check the bodies of other vehicles in the same brand released earlier. Also, if your BMW is an LCI, you must notice some technological upgrades and a sense of modernized features.
During LCI updates, not all parts of the BMW are changed. However, here are some examples of parts they alter:
- Added paint options
- New wheel options
- Added upholstery options
- Fixed design flaws
- Lighting updates
When Do BMW LCI Changes Take Place?
BMW LCI changes take place at the halfway line of the vehicle’s lifecycle before the model’s production ends. That’s at the maturity stage of the BMW’s life cycle.
However, there is no standard time set when these LCI changes are made. That’s because BMW doesn’t operate each vehicle model for a consistent time; meaning that each BMW model has a varied life cycle.
Yet, most BMWs have a life cycle of 7 years. So, dividing the life cycle by two, we find that LCI changes occur 3 to 4 years after the model’s initial launch. Remember, these numbers are only estimates, so they aren’t consistent among all the BMW models.
Conclusion
Over time, the taste of motor vehicles in the market reduces as technological and modern inventories are made in new cars. That means the old version car is likely to lose value and drop its demand. Also, looking into the lifespan of the BMW, seven years, it’s less likely to establish a new model that competes favorably. Therefore, BMW LCI aids in renovating the old car version by updating its technological and physical characteristics. In that case, the old version is still the customer favorite even after four years and above in the market.