NWH83 wrote

It's a miracle, I can almost look past the bucktooth fascia.

Car-Addicted wrote

It's no secret, I'm not a fan of the BMW pig snout but I would have gone All in with a M3 Estate if it came to America, snout and all. I can come up with a new avatar. Had to settle for a X5 when I realized BMW just isn't going to share the Estate love with us SUV crazy Americans.
I so miss my BMW 318i Mspec Estate, should have built a bigger garage.

ppointer wrote

Car-Addicted 100%. I'm so salty over the wagon embargo that I purchased two new non-BMW's in 2025 -- a GMC and a Lexus, either of which could have been a new BMW. Voting with my wallet. My next new car will be a G61 or another non-BMW. I have a letter I am about to mail to Mr. Mackensen stating as much.

Before someone says "go buy an M5 Touring", I refuse to buy a PHEV or a "car" that weighs 5300lbs, and have no desire to drive a 700+ hp car on the street. A 540i touring will do me just fine, and their refusal to import an existing (and US-certifiable) product is just being stubborn and greedy.

Artemis wrote

Explained last year: "And tell the [US] dealers next time when we ask the question that they say ‘thumbs up, we want an M3 Touring.'"

"Confirmed: BMW M3 Touring (G81) Will Never Come to the US
BMW M confirms the G81 M3 Touring will never come to America, despite strong demand. Here’s why the U.S. market missed out on the ultimate performance wagon."


"BMW Explains Why America Gets The M5 Touring But Not The M3 Touring

Car-Addicted wrote

You won't send these to the states but you will race one at 24hr Nürburgring, rubbing sand in the wound.

Straykiwi wrote

I carefully read and re-read those articles, and IMO the official excuses come across as lame and dismissive.

Straykiwi wrote

I think the American market can support such comparatively low expected sales volume because, you know, the market is frikken huge.

Toad wrote

Where can I watch the onboard livestream?

afadeev wrote

I remember a conversation with a BMW marketing guy a decade or so ago, and the answer boiled down to: there is a demand for <5,000 luxury wagons in all of the US

...

More here:
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a64218329/wagon-market-analysis/

Ohio Enthusiast wrote

I have in my zero-car-culture corner of Ohio I'm betting the BMW marketing guy is wrong).

Ohio Enthusiast wrote

The Road and Track article you linked claims a 0.2% market for luxury wagons, which is over 30,000 units, so one stat is wrong (and judging by the number of Buick Regal wagons (and older 3 series and non AMG E class) I have in my zero-car-culture corner of Ohio I'm betting the BMW marketing guy is wrong).

I'm of the strong opinion that there's a very big difference between what enthusiasts harp about in forums and comments and what they actually buy, but niche car segments are full of "we tried to bring cool-car-x but nobody was buying them so we stopped", when in actuality they brought a single spec, in low numbers, for one year, with zero marketing and without actually offering what people would actually want to buy. Want a manual? It's either the cheapest poverty spec possible (reminds me of the Genesis G70 I test drove. It was nice but base engine and no LSD) or the most expensive high end model. Want a wagon? It's the lifted, black plastic clad verity or the $122,000 3 ton version. I understand that diversity of products costs money to the manufacturer in regulation and supply chain, but it's not like they're not already making these wagons - they're still fairly popular in Europe (although declining there as well) so allocating an extra 10,000 units to the US shouldn't be such a huge strain.

The real question we need to ask ourselves is - if manufacturer X offers a sedan and an SUV, but not a wagon, would you compromise and buy the sedan or the SUV instead? If yes, then we lost our consumer power. Porsche enthusiast in the US proved that collective buying power can change manufacturer plans - they brought back the 911 GT3's manual transmission and put their money where their mouth is (with a 70% manual take rate in the US vs. 30% in the rest of the world).