[tetsuo111]

Originally Posted by Mo@BMWofFairfax

BMW is a business. Businesses need to make money. It's that simple. BMW has to keep shareholders are happy. What makes share holders happy? Money. We go full circle. It's not about what you drive, it's about fully thinking through what you're saying.

Companies like Apple and (formerly) BMW seized market share and became segment leaders precisely because they supplied forward-thinking and innovative products that the mass market hadn't yet imagined. Consider Mac, iPod, iPhone. Consider the early M3s / M5s. Compared with their peers of the day, these products were revolutionary, re-defining the products in the segment, that anyone including non-enthusiasts, could plainly see.

Without being rude, your strategy is a prime reason for BMW becoming irrelevant for many enthusiasts. If I want a mass-market car, I would (in the past) buy a Chevy or Toyota. Today, if I were shopping for an appliance car, I would look first at the Japanese and Korean brands, followed by the Germans (except Porsche). Excitement? The most exciting cars on the planet today are built in Detroit. Two of the most exciting cars in the world are Chevys. Cadillac builds better BMWs than the current gang in Munich. Heck, Kia / Genesis builds better BMWs than Munich (thank you Albert Biermann!).

The sole drivers car in BMW's product portfolio, the 2-series, is available with a 6MT, despite BMWs best efforts to kill the stick. Why? Because many enthusiasts want to drive stick! Does Singer make 911s with slush boxes? No. Enthusiasts are also market shapers / influencers, hence performance imagery helps sell cars, even for ordinary drivers. BMW earned their reputation building great performance sedans, grew the business successfully, and now appears to be paralyzed by the same success, building boring appliance cars for the masses while also trying to cling to a performance reputation. Talk about cognitive dissonance!

Sorry, German cars are so soul-crushingly boring now.

My "appliance" car is a Jeep Grand Cherokee. We use it for winter mountain travel and summer adventures in the mountains. Since the Jeep's in for repair, I'm in an Audi Q7 loaner. Compared to the Jeep, the Audi reminds me of dad's Buicks and Oldsmobiles. It's just a big, fat, shiny, boat with too much tech to intuitively operate. In contrast, the Jeep is as off-road capable as ever, while maintaining reliable mechanicals and comfort, and (subjectively) much better styling, without appearing "over designed".

I swear I believe the only reason to drive German today is social signaling the neighbors. It isn't for fun or performance anymore, based on my firsthand experience.