Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTT26
Its a response to the market and the growth of compact crossovers.
Sales alone have increased 45% and the leader of the segment is the Mercedes-Benz B-Klasse which has surpassed around 100,000 units since introduction in 2011.
It absolutely makes sense for BMW to venture in this segment because there are customers that want more from a typical minivan MPV crossover type vehicle, compact customers are now buying premium Marques and shunning volume Marques. This is where Active Tourer can effectively become a global player.
Is it a BMW? Not all BMWs are high performance , Active Tourer combines performance with efficiency. I recently drove the new MINI , sorry but its the best MINI ever! A perfect combination of dynamics , agility and typical MINI go-kart style sense of fun when you hit the corners.
This car utilises that same architecture and BMW set out to not only make the best RWD cars in the world but also carve a signature for itself in FWD , important for the company especially when its two direct competitors are FWD.
Active Tourer follows the same philosophy as the BMW X5 , purely a concept that is aimed to be driven.
Active Tourer is also the opening salvo in a new niche for BMW.
Plans are being considered in addition to the 2er to offer a larger Active Tourer a combination of Touring , Coupe but much more sleeker for the 4er based upon the LWB 3er which mean it will retain RWD.
Active Tourer will be offered in North America as it was successfully clinic evaluated by potential customers including those that have BMWs and those that own domestic or other import Minivan/crossovers.
Some tested could actually see this as the primary BMW whilst others who own a BMW reckon the Active Tourer could become the secondary BMW.
With the presentation of the concept. BMW allowed a registration programme.
Over 100,000 units people registered their interest. If we can transfer that into sales this could become the next big niche for BMW after the X family.
It will also give BMW further means to progress and develop models for their growing customer base.
|
SCOTT26, I get that it is (a small part of) your job to spin and defend whatever your employer does on this board. But does it ever occur to you that, when there is such an overwhelmingly negative reaction from the online enthusiasts community, simply posting another one of your standard German-marketing-dribble-google-translated-to-English-sounding nonsense is really not going to 1. convince anybody who doesn't already like it and 2. make your employer look good?
I get why BMW wants to do this car. After all, it's not like there is a more purist luxury car company that people on this board can just jump to. Besides, the enthusiast community is only a small piece of your customer base.
But you can't deny that BMW, through the enormous sales success of the last decade, has been benefiting from its image as an uncompromising, performance oriented brand. Just because most Porsche owners never take their cars to the track does not mean that they don't care about the IDEA of driving something that is supposed to be a purist enthusiast car. Likewise, a typical 5 series owner may not be what you would call an enthusiast, but I would bet that he likes the idea of owning a car that people that know a lot more about cars than he does think is really cool. Enthusiasts community might be a small minority, but it is also one that, in the long run, has an out-sized influence on your brand image.
Now, can anyone honestly say that even if BMW was building FWD cars like this MPV throughout the 70's and 80's, it would still have the same brand image as it does now? Of course not. So essentially BMW is using up, rather than building up, its brand equity, at least in so far as it being a company that makes the Ultimate Driving Machines.
And I guess that's ok. It's clear that BMW wants to be what Mercedes should have been, the most dominant mainstream luxury car maker. And I'm sure that makes perfect business sense. But don't expect the enthusiast community to go along with it without a lot of bitching and moaning, especially when BMW doesn't even have the decency to not name this mini-mini-van a 2 series.
Really, people at BMW HAD TO know that this nomenclature would be met with ridicule from people that know enough about cars, and especially BMW. The clear message is that they don't really care. BMW not only had to do an MPV, but they had to name it a 2 series, because, why? Most likely so that it won't have to be renamed when the entire 2 series line up turn into FWD in ~5 years. But in the mean time, do expect a lot of ridicule from the small but vocal portion of your customer base, because frankly, it is pretty hilarious what BMW did here.