I just bought a new X5 off the lot at a local dealership. In the process of searching for the car, I had a few must-haves (comfort seats, drivers assistance, HK audio, CarPlay, etc) and kept striking out at multiple dealerships in the area. I finally found a dealership where almost every X5 on the lot had those features. This got me wondering, who specs out these cars? Is there someone at the dealership whose job it is to configure cars online all day? If so, what a fun job.
The dealerships buyer with input from various managers. Mostly based on historical trends and wants/needs of the customer base specific to that dealer/neighborhood/region.
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Different companies handle it different ways, some companies have corporate level allocation and get what they get, while others do have regional and lot buyers. Some of it is based on markup profit margins and they just make more of specific packages/features. Of course you have port installed charges which all have crazy markups.
At the dealer that I do business with the GM specs all of the inventory cars, he is really into it and does a great job of coming up with combinations that are tasteful but also unique. Before I ordered my M2 I spoke with several dealers and some had sales managers who did their orders some GM. If you want something specific it is best to plan ahead and just do an order, it is great to get a car exactly the way you want and built for you, also it hasn’t spent weeks on the lot being driven by others or run through those terrible car wash machines.