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.
|
Hmmm I somewhat agree with you. BMW was a niche player only because it was a small family owned company, its not because they wanted to be a smaller player or they never would have expanded.
As for technology I think you are wrong again, they may be pushing the envelope a little more now but they were always a technically advanced company, from their engines to their addons. T
They were one of the first cars to offer independent suspensions, their I6's in 1933 were way more advanced then the competition.
BMW had disc brakes on their cars in 1961 which most car companies did not begin to use till the 1990's, they had ABS back in 74.
They were not the first, but one of the first automakers to use airbags as standard.
Technology comes in all different forms and without it a company falls behind. Yes they still have to stick with performance to differentiate themselves from the pack, but really how far have they strayed?
My 330 is faster in a straight line, and I will beat is faster around a track then the 1989 E30 M3, while getting better gas mileage and having many more amenities. (Btw I have also owned an E30 M3). All this and it was only $11,000 more then a car that is almost 20 years old.
If BMW wants to keep making cars like the M3 CSL they have to build the other cars to afford to make them. As long as they dont go to FWD and auto only (like some automaker I wont mention ........cough Audi) I will be just fine.