ok, here goes..........most, if not all 525s were dealer pre-ordered cars, and virtually all these cars were ordered with leather. However, a few select owners actually ordered their cars and waited. If you wanted a 1989 - 1993 525i and were willing to have it built to your exact specs, you could've ordered it with leatherette or cloth as standard, or spent the extra $$$$ and ordered leather. It's like anything else in the auto industry, if the car manufacturer needs a lease to be @ $299/month, they'll offer the bare bones basic model to "fit" the price-point. Similarly, in 1995 MOST dealers offered the E34 with the M-Tech kit for their inventory as BMW made it part of a "premium package" that usually included wood trim interior and BBS style wheels.


HTH