Fortune Ranks BMW Among World's Most Admired Companies For 2020 - #2 Auto Company

dezzracer · 01-22-2020, 03:01 PM

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Originally Posted by paliknight

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Originally Posted by dezzracer

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Originally Posted by paliknight

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Originally Posted by dezzracer

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Originally Posted by paliknight

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Originally Posted by dezzracer

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Originally Posted by rmorin1249

BMW, like MB, Audi, VW and Porsche are building and selling what US buyers want; SUVs and SAVs.

And they will continue to build performance vehicles like the M3 CS for niche buyers like us. Because we want them , we drive brand awareness and loyalty , and then we buy their SUV's for normal duty for our family's.

Seeing how the F80 CS sold, I highly doubt they'll continue the CS with the G80.

They sold all 1200 units and I think made healthy profit. Some paid MSRP, some paid mid 80s. Some like me paid in middle. Regardless they built a fantastic limited edition niche car and made money.

Perhaps more importantly they pulled a guy like me away from American muscle and made a first time BMW buyer a fan of the brand.

Some paid MSRP and most paid low 80's for a LEASE. BMW initially released this as a collector car since they didn't even allow learning until they saw all their units sitting on dealer floors.

When you value a car at six figures then have to discount it 20-30% AND lease it out, I wouldn't call that a success. The CS is about 30k more than the base but sells for nearly the same price on the used car market.

Well neither one of us knows what 1200 people actually paid and who leased and who bought. Very few are on forums and even fewer state what they paid. I remember all the bashing about the price on the CS when it was released. Especially by those that did not have one.

If you paid low 90s like I did then you paid about 15 K over a F80 comp. If we are to believe the people that have actually tracked both cars the power and handling differences between a comp and the CS is significant. Plus you got over $15k worth of factory installed carbon and unique lightweight wheels . So I maintain it was not a bad value. I do not lease cars as I feel financially it does not make sense for me. I buy and keep my weekend cars for 5-10 years. With that said, my point was not the value of a CS but that halo specialty cars have a positive impact on selling the rest of the brand's models.

Yeah I know what you mean, but what I was implying was that BMW is going more mainstream and shifting its focus from Motorsport entirely. They basically don't think it's worth investing in performance ICE vehicles so if they decide to release another CS, it would likely be half assed.

Yea, agree we might be seeing the end an era soon. I don't remember if I saw you in the "BMW moving away from M performance vehicles" thread in recent news section but Nicky DJ (who was all about the M340 X)had posted some links from BMW top management about upcoming "M" electric vehicles that sounded at least somewhat promising. I guess we can say goodbye to our exhaust burbles soon though lol.

heavyD^2 · 01-22-2020, 03:10 PM

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Originally Posted by cjm41

All they had to do was put an ///M badge on like 22 models. Finally appealing to the masses of badge snobs who can't be bothered with owning a race car.

As a business owner, I get it. As an enthusiast, I hate it.

As long as the bankers are impressed, I suppose. :shrug:

Eventually brand loyalty will wear off. In 20 years from now BMW won't have true enthusiasts/fans anymore. Just customers driving German Camrys.

Funny but I recall Toyota enthusiasts saying the same thing in the late 90's when Toyota quit making cars like the Supra, MR2, Celica, etc. Here we are 20 years later they are the largest manufacturer in the world. I think we enthusiasts tend to think with our hearts and not our heads with it comes to topics regarding automotive success.

cjm41 · 01-22-2020, 03:20 PM

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Originally Posted by heavyD^2

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Originally Posted by cjm41

All they had to do was put an ///M badge on like 22 models. Finally appealing to the masses of badge snobs who can't be bothered with owning a race car.

As a business owner, I get it. As an enthusiast, I hate it.

As long as the bankers are impressed, I suppose. :shrug:

Eventually brand loyalty will wear off. In 20 years from now BMW won't have true enthusiasts/fans anymore. Just customers driving German Camrys.

Funny but I recall Toyota enthusiasts saying the same thing in the late 90's when Toyota quit making cars like the Supra, MR2, Celica, etc. Here we are 20 years later they are the largest manufacturer in the world.

Yes. But they've lost their fans/enthusiasts.

Again... as a business owner, I get it. As an enthusiast, I hate it. Just as Toyota enthusiasts hate it. Toyota shareholders love it.

It's better to appease the masses. Enthusiasts traditionally hold onto cars rather than buy new ones, use indie shops or wrench on cars themselves, etc. The only benefit enthusiasts provide to a brand is street cred and the impression of loyalty. It takes a long time to wear off, but it does.

Personally, I'd like to add an e39 M5 and an e30 M3 to my garage and it most certainly has nothing to do with an inability to lease/buy a new BMW. I'm simply a nostalgia over status guy. BMW cares a lot less about me (the guy who spends my weekends tinkering with my M3, who's sitting here wearing an ///M hat as I type this) than it does some soccer mom looking at a new X3.

The long-game of catering to enthusiasts just doesn't have the pay off of mass producing M-badged cars for the hoards of people dying to look or feel special.

We live in a throw-away society hell-bent on looking cool, and the new "nothing special" mass produced M badged cars are generating a ton of revenue by catering to that.

It's simple... Money > Heritage.

And if I were a BMW shareholder instead of a BMW fanatic, I'd be thrilled about it too.

paliknight · 01-22-2020, 03:30 PM