Quote:
Originally Posted by Matski
I think you're radically over simplifying the process and rather under-estimating BMW on this one.
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So you buy the hype? Count me as one that doesn't. BMW may increase their sales over the short term, but I strongly suspect that they will start to see (if they haven't already) a decline in customer retention.
Porsche is a fantastic example (if you ignore their epic fail of trying to buy VW) of how to expand your product lines while keeping focused on your core product. Few will argue that the 991 and 981 aren't better than the one or two generations before them, while they've added trucks and sedans to their product line. They kept their core customers happy and brought in new ones with new product.
BMW did this with MINI and start of the X line, but appears to think they can duplicate this trend by making fwd BMW's, which I think will likely go down in history as a tragically poor decision, as will the continued fragmentation of the core product line at the expense of the core product.