so... all thats left is to wait for Euro launch?

[lucid]

Glad we're all laughing. I have tears in my eyes!

Technic man, you were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[ruff]

Originally Posted by Technic

They need to start from $55,000 for the Coupe, $53,500 for the Sedan and $62,000 for the Convertible to make really a market statement, at least for a couple of years IMO.

This is probably wishfull thinking but I couldn't agree more. It they priced the M3 in the mid to upper 50's they would sell more than they could produce, driving up demand and profit for years rather than first year production only. It would also greatly reduce the stratospheric depreciations hits M5 and M6 owners are experiencing. They are coming to find out their $90,000 dollar screamers are money pits beyond their wildest expectations, SMG failures aside. BMW is refusing to CPO M5's and M6's. Is that an army of red flags I see waving in the distance or an illusion? One only need to see all the M5's and M6's gathering dust on dealer lots as a result. What would make the M3's fate any different if BMW also decides to overprice it? My belief is higher sales, less margin is a better buisness strategy than higher margins lower sales, particularly in the long term. Most bloats who buy the M3 will option it out and as we know options are where car makers make their profit. Selling a lot more cars due to the lower price means selling a lot more overpriced options.

[MI6]

Originally Posted by ruff

This is probably wishfull thinking but I couldn't agree more. It they priced the M3 in the mid to upper 50's they would sell more than they could produce, driving up demand and profit for years rather than first year production only. It would also greatly reduce the stratospheric depreciations hits M5 and M6 owners are experiencing. They are coming to find out their $90,000 dollar screamers are money pits beyond their wildest expectations, SMG failures aside. BMW is refusing to CPO M5's and M6's. Is that an army of red flags I see waving in the distance or an illusion? One only need to see all the M5's and M6's gathering dust on dealer lots as a result. What would make the M3's fate any different if BMW also decides to overprice it? My belief is higher sales, less margin is a better buisness strategy than higher margins lower sales, particularly in the long term. Most bloats who buy the M3 will option it out and as we know options are where car makers make their profit. Selling a lot more cars due to the lower price means selling a lot more overpriced options.

Ruff, I like how you changed your info from "Accord" to "91 Accord DX 5MT" very BMW-ish of you!

[ruff]

Originally Posted by MI6

Ruff, I like how you changed your info from "Accord" to "91 Accord DX 5MT" very BMW-ish of you!

Thanks again for your nice comments. Excellent post by the way. It looks like you have a very impressive stable of cars. It makes me all the more excited to buy a BMW and be associated in such esteemed company. Just wanted to brag about my new Accord. Ya, never have taken out a car loan and never plan to. Just never been interested in making the rich richer and myself poorer by throwing money at lenders just so I can be a badge snob. Since you seem interested in my lowly credentials, the car has about 200k on it and runs great. Saved me zillions of dollars on gas and repairs over the years, is light, handles corners remarkably well, revs happily to red line and has one of the slickest shifting sticks I have ever thrown. Oh ya, I forgot, it's a lowly Honda - Japanese. I'll go back to my room now.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by ruff

This is probably wishfull thinking but I couldn't agree more. It they priced the M3 in the mid to upper 50's they would sell more than they could produce, driving up demand and profit for years rather than first year production only. It would also greatly reduce the stratospheric depreciations hits M5 and M6 owners are experiencing. They are coming to find out their $90,000 dollar screamers are money pits beyond their wildest expectations, SMG failures aside. BMW is refusing to CPO M5's and M6's. Is that an army of red flags I see waving in the distance or an illusion? One only need to see all the M5's and M6's gathering dust on dealer lots as a result. What would make the M3's fate any different if BMW also decides to overprice it? My belief is higher sales, less margin is a better buisness strategy than higher margins lower sales, particularly in the long term. Most bloats who buy the M3 will option it out and as we know options are where car makers make their profit. Selling a lot more cars due to the lower price means selling a lot more overpriced options.

I think that the introduction of the 1 Series will determine how BMW will price its future models from now on, including the M3 of course.

Definitely the 135i in specific, just in base form, should be too close in performance to the upcoming M3 to justify placing the M3 in a price bracket that would make current and potential buyers to not consider it. As you stated, we just have to see what's going on with the other M Series to see that something is not working/is broken... be the price, the complexity, the reliability, the "specialness" or a combination of all of those factors.

I guess that BMW is very aware of this to simply position this M3 outside a sure market.