Quote:
Originally Posted by Erhan
...and more importantly, give us a 1 series or Z4 type car that is small, light and f**king fast. And do this without massaging seats, automatically closing boot, iphone apps, and freaking turbo engines. Make it a simple, raw, direct driver's car. You know, like the freaking Subaru does...
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EXACTLY
It's pure speculation on my part, but maybe, just maybe the BMW-Toyota partnership will end up spawning a line or sub-brand of relatively affordable sports cars ($30-$40K). If BMW only occupies the $40K+ market for too long, I fear they'll eventually lose appeal to young drivers which will eventual erode sales. It's obviously the same problem Toyota faced in the last decade, hence the Scion brand and the surprisingly focused FR-S.
When Mercedes introduced the C Class "Baby Benz" to the U.S. in the 1980s, the move was seen as highly risky to the well-established Mercedes brand. But it turned out to be a huge success because it opened the door to a whole new class of long-term Mercedes customers without cheapening the brand because the 190E was a good car in its day. Now we see Audi bringing a next-gen A3 sedan (even flirting with the A1 in America) and Mercedes is likely to bring an A or B class car to the U.S. Perhaps BMW will see fit to do the same with BMW branded cars (the MINI brand is kind of a half-step in this direction).