Quote:
Originally Posted by 48Laws
Firstly, ///M is a Division of BMW that tunes. M is not a car per se. Just like people who thought the STI was a car. It's not. Subaru Technica Internatonal tuned an Impreza. If you look at all of the ///M tuned vehicles, they all perform. Even the 3 ton X6M performs. 0-60 in 4.5!!!!! That's not a Tell tale sign a tuning division is losing its way, in my opinion. Whatever the market calls for, a company must satisfy it. Just because you'll see ///M bits on non-M cars isn't really a big deal. It's performance branding. That's all. If Lamborghini can build an SUV in the 80's and still stay true to its performance DNA, certainly BMW can, too. As far as the 1M goes... It does what it's supposed to do. Perhaps this will be a design study for a greater vehicle in the near future? Let's just wait it out and see before we throw our hands up in disgust.  |
So the E92 M3 was a 20% tuned model? Please see pg 9.
While I won't dispute your point that BMW is approaching the market differently than in the past, it is still too early to tell whether M Division will become a mundane tuning house. Once we see what the next M3 has in the way of unique constituent parts, we will definitively know. However, at this point, I think a lot of the "smart money" would bet that the almighty currency did what no competitor could do; get BMW to create widespread discontent among its most ardent followers.