Quote:
Originally Posted by Panzerleder
BMW has always been something of a niche player, focused first and foremost on performance. It's what differentiates BMW from Lexus, and Mercedes, and Cadillac and a host of others. I think it lost its way when it began trying to market itself as a luxury brand in the 80's. The cars began to go soft. It became a yuppiemobile, sought after for no other reason than the cachet of the Roundel. But that carries you only so far and it's a very fickle audience. Pretty soon, they move on to the next hot thing. Even worse than that, though, was that quality began to suffer. What had been a basic, solid, reliable vehicle that you could beat to death and work on yourself became something of a technological tour de force that had too many flaws requiring an expensive battery of specially-trained technicians to fix. GM has tried mightily to appeal to everyone and look where they are. BMW can't go down that road because they can't afford to compete with the big mass marketers. They can't afford a mistake (the Land Rover notwithstanding). Keep it simple and go with who brung you. Porsche understands that better than most and they are still thriving.
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you can't blame any car maker for striving to be profitable. reality is that consumer demand has driven more luxury and fickle options into current products, including bmw's. that said, bmw has done a great job keeping performance their number one priority, while adding luxury and class. let the yuppies have their status symbols. the rest of us will continue to own them because they provide an unmatched ride and performance with a touch of class and comfort, without being extreme. i can't afford an austin martin or a worthwhile porsche, but i can afford a well-equipped 3-series.