Claus Luthe passed away on 17 March 2008. He was 75 years old.  Mr. Luthe was the chief designer at BMW from 1976-1990 where he supervised the design team that developed the 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, and 8 Series models with timeless designs during the 1980's and early 1990's.  Mr. Luthe is often credited in positioning BMW into one of the most sought after brands in the world.

The Vehicle Build Sheet Report (VBS-R - an expanded version of the factory build sheet) is stil in development.  Current plans are to make this report available during the 4th Quarter of 2008. 

New enhancements are being incorporated into this report based on feedback from 8er owners.

Japan (JP) BMW 840/850/850CSi colors are now online. Presented are the final audited numbers.

For Japan, blue is the number one exterior color group with 28.29% of all 2,513 JP market version 8 Series (code 807). built.  Overall, there were 25 different exterior colors applied to the JP E31's. 

In 2007, the E31 Registry at 8coupe.com expanded the information output from the Inventory Project.   Specific data released:

• Salvage Listings (routinely updated)
• Exterior Colors - Global
• Interior/Upholstery Colors - Global
• Colors by Market Version (North America, Germany, UK)
• 8 Series Models by Market Version

The global color combinations summary produced for the 8 Series will be online soon.  With 125 exterior colors and 34 interior/upholstery colors applied to the 8 Series, there were potentially 4,250 different possible color combinations. 

The number one global 8er color combination? 

• DIAMANTSCHWARZ METALLIC (code 181)  with
• LEDER NAPPA/SCHWARZ (code 0226/M4SW)
• 1,765 cars