Quote:
Originally Posted by Obioban
BMW built their brand on appealing to enthusiasts (the 2002 and tii were what established them in the USA, and were the first sport sedans), and at this point have 100% forsaken us. It's certainly good for their short term sales, but I do wonder how it will effect them long term. The exact non enthusiast they're targeting buy them over Mercedes/Audis precisely because of their "ultimate driving machine" reputation. At some point, that will no longer be what they're known for... and then they're just a worse Mercedes.
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I think this is pretty common with a lot of companies. They start out making outstanding products that appeal to the discerning enthusiast, who are very outspoken about the product. More people hear about how great the product is, volume grows, the company grows, though eventually bean counters/MBAs take over and their mantra becomes volume, volume, volume...(for "survival" and "shareholder value")
Eventually, this alienates a large portion of their original enthusiast customers, who start to look elsewhere... I think as long as BMW continues to make real ///M models, they have a product for an enthusiast. The new models are just morphing at the moment due to all of the emission and CAFE changes coming in the next few years. If their engineers have any influence in the organization at all, they will continue to refine the product. Of course, the ///M badge whoring they have been doing lately is ludicrous.