View Single Post
      07-31-2019, 08:15 AM   #89
mkoesel
Moderator
United_States
7506
Rep
19,370
Posts

Drives: No BMW for now
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Canton, MI

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by secretanchitman View Post
Do we really need coupe SUVs,
If the data says that's what the populace wants, then it is a market worth pursuing. The situation is no different from a four-door coupe version of a passenger car.

It is not typically a successful business strategy to notice that a new idea (be it your own or a competitor's) is bringing in new customers, shake your head at the new and peculiar buyer behavior at play, and then decide to opt out of this new market that has opened up because it does not align with some contrived and arbitrary dogmatic principle.

Quote:
M Performance cars and switching out the coupes and convertibles into even numbered models? I think it should be something like this:

1 (120i/130i/M1)
3 (330i/340i/M3 Sedan/Coupe/Convertible)
5 (530/540i/550i M5 Sedan/Coupe/Convertible)
7 (740i LWB, 750i, LWB)
X1 (30i)
X3 (30i, 40i, X3 M)
X5 (40i, 50i, X5 M)
X7 (40i, 50i)
Z4 (30i, 40i, M)
i3
i8
But renaming products will likely lead to no reduction in costs and does nothing to address those that are not selling well. I understand you are also reducing the number of models, but you do not need to rename anything to achieve that.

Although there is no data available, I would suggest that the adoption of even-numbering for coupes/convertibles/Gran Coupes and the M Performance branding has not hurt revenue. In fact, the latter in particular is almost surely generating more revenue than would be otherwise available. We know that the M name brings clout and luxury vehicle buyers tend to place a lot of value on brand, thereby opening up opportunity for higher pricing. In any case, certainly spending money (it would be a significant amount) to roll things back would be a mistake at this stage.

Regarding model reduction, once we rid the lineup of the GT's, minivans, and other oddities that didn't catch on, coupes and convertible are obvious low hanging fruit, no doubt to the dismay of enthusiasts. The good news? It turns out you can make a passenger car with four doors perform identically to one with two doors in the case where they sit on the same architecture, have the same dimensions, and share chassis components. The thing is that the SUV form factor is the new default choice for the typical buyer, so you no longer need to take the rear doors off a sedan to make a statement with your passenger car. Merely driving a passenger car *period* is the new way to make a statement, like it or not. And so, the demand to have those rear doors nixed is slowly fading.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xlover View Post
2. I don't really trust the writer overall, too many opinion references to the design of the cars.. didn't read like a cold informative story.. read more like a political opinion piece which means the author is probably bending some of the truth to fit his narrative
Absolutely. I am skeptical in particular about the X2 being up for cancelation because it has been a swift seller. The 2AT, 2GT, 2 Convertible, i3, 3GT, and 6GT are definitely not getting a reprieve after they've run through their current cycle, though. And I would not be surprised in the least to see the Z4, 8 Coupe, and 8 Convertible gone after this generation either.
Appreciate 0