11-16-2020, 08:36 PM | #1 |
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Losing Interest in the i4 and BMW
I realize it's early and my mind is still open, but BMW seems to be working hard to discourage (at least, my) interest in any more vehicles. Check this out...and there are lots of other articles like this on Google today.
https://jalopnik.com/bmw-launches-bi...s-u-1845687542 Two problems: 1) Their vehicles are getting uglier (to my eyes) with each new model's front end design. 2) In response to negative reactions by others with similar taste, they decided the most helpful strategy is to insult and condescend to those who still have much of the discretionary spending power to acquire their cars. "OK Boomer" was created and continues as a statement of contempt, impatience, and condescension. For BMW to somehow think this is smart marketing suggests that both the Design Office and Marketing are quite lost and may harm the future of the brand together. I will be interested to see how they crisis-manage their way out of this PR blunder. I would find it hard to write another large check to a company who has such a dim view of me as the buyer.
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11-17-2020, 11:53 AM | #2 |
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The marketing is so ridiculous, they are becoming the trump of car brands on twitter it seems.
Interestingly, this article came out yesterday BMW iX to Use Bespoke EV Architecture — Will be the Only Car to Use It. This was what they were hinting at platform wise all along in the press release of the iX, being that it would ride on a bespoke platform. I believe the i4 will ride on a CLAR platform that is shared with other ICE and PHEV vehicles which could hurt its efficiency and range. Being that the iX is on a bespoke platform designed for an EV, I would also infer that this is the best platform for efficiency and range, but the car will only have a max target of 300 (old targets were as high as 370+ EPA). I have a feeling the i4 will be a range disappointment even with the increased aero over the iX. That being said I still look forward towards the i4, although not for the looks (that ship sailed) more to see how BMW i evolves and whether they will make a convincing product, or another car to add to the list along with the EQC, E-Tron, iPace etc.
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11-17-2020, 11:19 PM | #3 |
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Couldn't agree more. They are trying too hard to be different with poor execution.
I really hope the i4 looks nothing like their recent ix or it will be game over. |
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11-18-2020, 07:12 AM | #4 |
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I completely agree with OP. I am an advocate of electric vehicles and currently drive a 2018 530e and previously drove a 330e.
My current vehicle is loaded up and had an MSRP of > $73K. So like the OP I have the capacity to buy expensive cars. But I will not replace my current BMW with another unless and until they get rid of these butt ugly grills. Hello MB and Porsche. |
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11-18-2020, 08:03 AM | #5 |
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Although the conversation isn't trending that way, I am actually more repelled by my problem #2 in the first post than the grille appearance.
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11-18-2020, 10:03 AM | #6 |
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They've lost their way. Get yourself together BMW. This is disaster.
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11-25-2020, 09:23 PM | #7 |
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They must have had customer focus groups look at this design before they hit the "go" button. Who were those people? There is an old saying about looks: to each, his own. True, but this is really a polarizing design and BMW risks alienating a significant portion of their normal customer base by putting something like this out there. Can't believe that they didn't get some of that feedback from their focus groups. How many Aztecs did Pontiac sell?
Last edited by MikeTerp; 11-25-2020 at 09:25 PM.. Reason: typo |
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11-26-2020, 08:17 AM | #8 |
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I could care less if BMW insults me. If it makes a car that I like at a fair price point, then I am interested; if the company doesn't, I can and will look elsewhere.
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11-26-2020, 08:39 AM | #9 |
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I'm reading a lot of butthurt in this thread. If you're insulted by something irrelevant like "OK Boomer" (which obviously is just playing with the meme, does any company intentionally want to insult their customers?) you are not the target group anyway. Also, the "Ok Boomer" post is just a single tweet, just like the car bold and provocative (well at least thats what the marketing team was trying to do). Answering to the replies of the tweet with "In order to go new ways you sometimes have to try new looks." seems normal to me? What else should they have answered? Cancel the whole car because a few guys on twitter said they don't like it? In the end, it actually was a really succesful marketing campaign. As the saying goes: There is no such thing as bad publicity, any press is good press. All of the media picked it up, many posts on social media about this tweet. It achieved what it was supposed to do, make people aware of the new car BMW just launched. (The average person does not care or know when a new car is launched unlike you guys here on this forum).
If you don't want to buy an i4/iX then don't do it. You're a human being with a free mind, nobody forces anyone to buy a BMW. If you want a Tesla/Taycan/etron/EQC/Polestar or whatever else, then just go ahead and buy it. Nothing will change when you complain on a forum (at least until the next refresh/model in 3-7 years). It's ridiculous announcing your decision to not buy a specific model with an own thread on some random forum (especially if its a butthurt reason like "They made a post I dont like on twitter"). 99% of the people shouting "You have lost a customer" wouldn't have bought the car in the first place, so no, BMW did not lose a customer, in-fact they didn't lose anything at all. If I didn't buy anything from a company that had a failed marketing campaign I wouldn't be buying anything at all. BMW did a lot of marketing research and customer surveys and found out people do not want yet another EV, that just looks like a normal car with blue/orange accents (EQC, e-tron) or is conservative af without any design character at all (Model 3/S). People want to stand out, they want to get noticed and everyone else know they are driving a BMW. By the way, guess which other company went this way? Porsche, they designed a car distinctively recognizable as an EV and it works well, it's their most sold product in 2019. And before you say "No, I don't want a poser car", well statistics doesn't care about single people, the mean/average/variance etc. is what matters. In the end, if they sell more of the cars by going with a bold design instead of another conservative minor refresh, they did the correct decision. The G8X preorders confirm this. There is a lot more interest compared to the F8X launch, there are more bold colors chosen in the interios as well as exterior. People want to individualize their car and have a unique product. As a company, obviously, BMW just goes the route with the most money, which is bold, unique, individual, "showy/poser-like" if you want to call it like that. Last edited by Flamingi; 11-26-2020 at 08:50 AM.. |
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11-26-2020, 10:00 AM | #10 | |
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The car is obviously important, but my early training was that relationships are best when one doesn't offend the other, and if it happens accidentally, one should apologize to address the error. My sense of self-respect is such that I would have found it conflicting to very much want the car, but become a customer of a company who figuratively spit in my face whether due to my age, ethnicity, religion, nationality, etc. I am currently having a house built and the builder has been absolutely kind, respectful, and friendly. That relationship is quite solid. I expect the same from the manufacturer of the second largest expenditure item. I took my concerns to the CEO of BMWNA, and received a response and a second follow up from the VP of Marketing. This issue can now be ascribed to a myopic employee in Germany who managed their postings in the vast wasteland of twitter, for whom BMW has now apologized, and more importantly, put new measures into place to prevent a recurrence. That is the resolution I was hoping to find and I'm now back to focusing on the car, itself.
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11-26-2020, 10:17 AM | #11 | |
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The offense was not intentional. It was negligent. It was neither "bold" nor "provocative". It was just short-sighted, arrogant, and, to put it plainly, dumb for anyone in a business relationship and who has the slightest understanding of the concept of empathy. However, that does not reduce the need for retraction, apology, and corrective action to prevent recurrence. BMWNA has admitted as much in writing and done all three at this point, and the inexperienced employee has apparently been counseled. Moving on to await the news on the i4.
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11-26-2020, 10:22 AM | #12 |
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Does one post from a company's Twitter account really influence your buying decisions? It's just entertainment and publicity. As they say, all publicity is good publicity. Everyone is looking at the new cars and talking about them. I'd say BMW aren't worried about "ok boomer" rubbing some people the wrong way. Take the Wendy's Twitter account for example. Frequently posts banter and makes fun of competitors, which is appreciated by the younger customer base that uses Twitter. Are you deciding what to eat based on the Twitter game a restaurant/company has?
The real concern is the design. Some people like 'daring and new' and some just think it's ugly. Are the cars good? Probably comparable to competitors. Do they look good? Subjective. It's a changing world and changing market. No path they take is going to be "right" to everyone. I'm confident BMW will continue to do well--I just don't like the big grills.
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11-26-2020, 10:32 AM | #13 | |
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11-26-2020, 10:44 AM | #14 | |
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11-26-2020, 11:03 AM | #15 | |||
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I'll do the googling for you:
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It's only a problem, because they changed the way they handle the marketing, just like the design - how ironic. Have a look at Wendys Twitter account, it's a fu**ing shitshow and people love it. Do you not go to Wendys anymore because they insult everyone of their customers? And they are really insulting them and not just using a meme which got wrongly interpreted, although (as it's the case with BMWs post) of course it's just some sarcasm. If you really feel personally insulted by a post on twitter and influenced to a point where you decide to not buy a product you would otherwise have bought, you are just way out of the norm. I think you just really don't understand what "OK Boomer" really means and making something bigger about it than it actually is. Most people buy a car based on facts. Whats the hp, range, build quality, reliability, looks etc.? Sure, if "How are the posts of the manufacturer on Twitter" is a very important category for you, then it's a valid point - for you. But that's not the case for the vast majority of people. Twitter/Social Media and Ads are just making you aware of the existence of the product. Quote:
Quote:
If you didn't realize it, I'll spell it out for you: BMW is in the process of radically changing (starting with the release of the 1 series F40) - drivetrain, design, marketing, target group. In such a process you will always lose some and win some. As long as the net amount is positive, it was a good decision to do so. It looks like you are part of the group that they'll lose. But nothing wrong with that, I really liked Audi until they fu**ed everything up and changed Quattro to a worthless version of the once glorious technology. Now I think their cars are just "ok". Last edited by Flamingi; 11-26-2020 at 11:16 AM.. |
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12-10-2020, 03:38 PM | #16 |
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I wish they offered the F40 1 series in the USA. I'd would dump my Mini and the M240i for that one car.....that would open a space for a C8 or something more exotic.
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12-10-2020, 06:18 PM | #17 |
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"99% of the people shouting "You have lost a customer" wouldn't have bought the car in the first place, so no, BMW did not lose a customer, in-fact they didn't lose anything at all. If I didn't buy anything from a company that had a failed marketing campaign I wouldn't be buying anything at all."
The people shouting in this forum are BMW owners/lessees so I have trouble buying your premise. |
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12-11-2020, 08:57 AM | #18 |
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Personally, I found the Jalopnik headline far more off-putting than BMW's "boomer" post.
I see this as the norm now. Where organizations and agencies encourage their writers to do "hit pieces". Most are based on personal ideology or preferences rather than fact. Fair reporting appears to be a lost art where a journalist reports facts and lets the reader decide whether they like or dislike something. The more outrageous a headline and the more slanted the reporting, the better. I am a "boomer" and more than capable of determining what I like or don't all by myself. I do not need some "hack" writer putting his two cents in based on their own biases. |
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12-11-2020, 02:07 PM | #19 |
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"If you didn't realize it, I'll spell it out for you: BMW is in the process of radically changing (starting with the release of the 1 series F40) - drivetrain, design, marketing, target group. In such a process you will always lose some and win some. As long as the net amount is positive, it was a good decision to do so. It looks like you are part of the group that they'll lose. But nothing wrong with that, I really liked Audi until they fu**ed everything up and changed Quattro to a worthless version of the once glorious technology. Now I think their cars are just "ok"."
I am not sure I agree with the comment about BMW changing direction. But if it is true, and the new grills are indicative of that change, then I completely agree with the poster: BMW can certainly try to maximize its profits by changing its target audience and those of us who may then be left out have lots of other car companies to explore. |
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