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Engineers/designers answer to management; management answers to senior management (president/CEO); senior management answers to the board; board answers to shareholders. And shareholders answer to $$. M division might have initially started as a "cool" project, but it's kind of hard for shareholders to ignore the potential profitability of the M brand now, no? I can't think of any other successful "special" projects division of a major international corporation ever remaining independent this long from the almighty $ as BMW's M division (feel free to provide counter-examples). So, to me, nothing new here, and it seems pointless to pine for the good ol' days (unless M crashes and burns, is shuttered by BMW, and then is revived years later as a special projects division again).
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