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Originally Posted by SCOTT26
The truth of the matter is that BMW have not confirmed these vehicles for production. So they cannot confirm nor deny.
In regards to the Z1 they are more occupied in trying to make the MINI version more feasible for production. So officially they are not at a decision for this vehicle as of yet as the current state of the Roadster market is not as it once was especially at the lower end although BMW are watching to see what happens in regards with the new Mazda MX-5. Officially they need to market watch to see if this vehicle can provide the turnaround or evidently show that market has collapsed. One thing discussed is that the MINI could potentially be RWD if put on a current architecture.
The Super M car has only ever made discussion with no process in place. There was never going to be an M version of the i8 as the two brands offer completely differing philosophies. Sharing technology and materials would be the only relative feature everything else would have been different. The year 2016 will bring forth a concept based on the i8 to show potential progression - reaction to the car unveiled in the midst of BMWs centenary will be the litmus test to decide if production will become a reality even as a limited edition model.
The next BMWi vehicle will be a four door and this is where it gets interesting. As the report indicates said car to be available in 2018 especially when an interview advised the next BMWi car to arrive in production in 2020 following a two stage concept series like the original Vision EfficientDynamics/i8.
The reason for the delay is to continue the Born Electric philosophy of BMWi which situating the four door on an electrified 5er undermines the complete BMWi message.
In 2014 BMW previewed the vision for a range-topping luxury sedan at the Beijing Auto Show last form of the BMW Vision Future Luxury Concept. Which indicated that the concept presented a viable long-term vision for the expansion of the BMW brand.
The decision on whether to move ahead with a production version of the sedan will happen as soon as Harald Krueger, who is said to be receptive to the concept of a new range-topping sedan, takes over as CEO. As over the past year the car has been sent for numerous customer viewings to showcase potential for a more exclusive BMW. The reaction has been in favour of the car as there are customers that see and would like to see a BMW in that position and not only that a BMW they want to actually drive. BMW kept the VFL as an exclusive sedan because they did not want to see the driver mistaken as the chauffeur which is the complete opposite on the Maybach S600.
Internally the car is identified as the 9 series, in keeping with BMW's naming conventions, and is intended as a direct competitor to the recently-unveiled Mercedes-Maybach S600 sedan while avoiding direct competition with the Rolls-Royce Ghost, in other words the bridge to Rolls-Royce.
The overall issue is that these are cars intended for market changes which are foreseen in the next few years that there is no hurry to introduce to a market that is not ready at the moment as when the BMW X7 arrives the luxury market will be topping at least 1 million units and with a 9er proposed for launch in 2018 it would arrive at the critical point to take a serious advantage.
The all new Rolls-Royce Phantom arrives in 2017 and it is this car that will be shared with the 9er as the Vision Future Luxury showcased upcoming development for the next Phantom especially in relation to construction, materials and eDrive drivetrain in which VFL used BMWs much talked about eDrive Turbo 6 cylinder drivetrain which will feature in a plug-in Phantom model.
But what you can take is that one of the final proposals for the 3er G20 uses similar design language to the Vision Future Luxury but shrunk to 3er proportions including the stretched slimmer tail lamps that sit on top of the space for the license plate higher up instead of across from it has very much been inherited for future BMW models.
For BMW M. The lack of investing in super sports cars do not harm the image of the brand one bit. The next stage of M will not only increase lightweight technology on the next M5 but also allows further progress to be considered for the BMW M4 and M2 models.
At the close of this year we will see both ideas from the BMW-Toyota partnership in a new sports car.
There is only one constant among German automakers including BMW in the markets today and it's that no segment shall remain unfilled or unidentified.
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I really like what you said about the 9 series and the G20.
If "no market shall remain unfulfilled " , that means that we are looking at an 911 fighter in the form of this BMW-toyota concept due to later this year?
You have been talking about a concept car that will be shown this year for quite some time now..is this it? Or the X7? i5? When will we see it?