Quote:
Originally Posted by enigma01
Quote:
Originally Posted by 530iDriver
It responds to what the market wants not to what Bimmerpost members demand.  |
Apparently, it does. Unfortunately, it also means alienating some of the most loyal customer base on bimmerpost, like myself on my 9th back-to-back BMW spanning 20 years.
I am sure their market research team is doing a bang-up job expanding market share, but what's customer loyalty worth to them? Apparently, not much; if they can get two new customers for each long-time one they lose, they are OK with it. |
Have to agree, this is one of the reasons I don't have a BMW in my garage for the first time in over 20 years.
Another problem is the competition is closing the gap when it comes to handling/driving dynamics. Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the 3,5, and even 7 series were best handling in their class with no cars coming close except maybe the G35/7 but they had a large gap in how it drove in comparison to the rest of the class.
Now, while the BMWs still do have some sportiness, the class has caught up, and some cars have even surpassed BMW in the handling/driving dynamics such as Alfa, Jaguar, some Cadillacs and even some Mercedes.
I understand that BMW is chasing sales numbers, and I don't blame them, whatever their doing is working, as they surpassed Mercedes as the #1 luxury manufacturer this year so far, but in the process, they have lost me until they make a product that I find to be "The Ultimate Driving Machine"