Quote:
Originally Posted by xDrive50i
Fully agree with you. And I didn't take it personally and I wasn't trying to step on anybody's toes either 
Looking at the figures of the 135, it already is a fast little bugger!
Just imagine what M could do with it... However I don't think it will ever happen (at least not in the near future anyway)!
I think some people (namely the M5 and M6 crowd) would be pretty peeved if M would bring out a 1 series M version. This is purely looking at the performance vs. price tag issue between those models.
Now the X5M and X6M talk to a different crowd compared to the M3/M5/M6 and whatever else M versions out there. I'm sure that the M division had a LONG hard look at the sales figures of Mercedes and Porsche when it comes to high performance SUVs and figured that this is money they are letting the competition have. I can understand the point of the 'M purists' out there, however, the M division is after all a business and if your bottom line shrinks (especially in the current economic climate we are in), then you have to look at what you need to do to change this or possibly even to survive. |
+1
I've said it a few times lately , the world economy has changed and that means the auto world as well. It's not just a downturn but a fundamental shift, folks will have to live within their means. Cheap credit is gone, this will have big impact on everyone from VC's who relied on cheap credit to fund startups to folks that relied on cheap leases to drive cars they could not really afford.
All of which effects the auto world.
It's not likely to go back to what it was, BMW will do what it needs to do in order to survive.
Bottom line if BMW doesn't sell a lot of what the "purists" don't like they will not be spending money developing niche cars like M3/M5/M6/MX5/X6/MX6.