Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTT26
I would like to point out that your dilema is with BMW North America not BMW AG in regarding price information for the new BMW M3.
BMW North America will have that information. So in essence I cannot answer something I have no knowledge of...
I would like to point out that the M3 had to complete additional US testing to make it compatible for the US Market, that is why it is taking too long to come to the USA. And of course that the European market has always significant priority for M cars which is why production was catered for Europe first.
I try to keep up with the times when I have time but recently I was involved with the BMW X6 and the M3 Cabrio and unfortunately neither shoot went as smooth or trouble free (Weather for the M3) as I hope they would be.
I have driven the M3 Cabrio on Lanzorotte with the new transmission and think it is a revelation even in automode shifts are notoriously quick and precise.
I am currently working on the MINI Cabrio and are therefore not able to answer every query I am asked. But any way Merry Xmas....
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Scott,
Thanks for this information. It is good to have someone from BMW to at least acknowledge that DCT exists, and that it is being tested successfully.
I didn't know that the "European market has always significant priority for M cars." That is BMW's call, but it sounds absurd to me given 50% of production is targeted for the US market. I wonder about the rationale associated with such a strategy (and I don't expect you to articulate it or anything).
As to "the M3 had to complete additional US testing to make it compatible for the US Market, that is why it is taking too long to come to the USA": that also sounds absurd to me in this day and age, and I doubt that is the real reason. (If, currently, there was a true competitor to the M3 in the US market, BMW would be selling the car here as well.) That reasoning sounds absurd because global companies, for many reasons which include things like minimizing development costs, have long recognized the need to deal with such market specific issues in parallel with the overall development of the product--especially considering the size and importance of the US market. 15 years ago that global perspective wasn't in focus, but it is now the gold standard. If that is indeed the real reason for the delay, to redesign a product for a major market after it has been fully developed is really behind the times.
I realize my opinions are inconsequential in the greater scheme of things, but what you have expressed has influenced my perception of BMW as a leading global product development organization.
Regardless, thanks again for the information on DCT.