Quote:
Originally Posted by heavyD^2
Quote:
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.
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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.