BMW BLOG

I remember first seeing the 1 Series back in September 2004 – also my first trip to Bavaria. I came with my dad to a BMW dealership in Rosenheim, a city 40 miles away from Munich.
The showroom was rather small, with only 5 or 6 cars on display. While my father was drooling around the X5, I was hoping to see the back then brand new 1 Series. The car was released just in the peak of the “Bangle revolution” – BMW sales were soaring, the press was disgusted by the radical new designs and the loyal fans were writing petitions against good ol’ Chris Bangle.

I was rather disappointed when the salesman said that the 1 Series isn’t available to display yet, but the first examples will be ready for a week or so. Too bad, I thought, I’ll be just 500 miles away then, and I’ll see the car somewhere in January, if lucky.
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There is no need to explain how emotionally attached are BMW owners to their cars and how we all appreciate the company who makes them, but sometimes, BMW does (or refuses to do) things which make us all ask – What in the world were they thinking?

7. Runflat Tires
The idea was to remove a spare tire to give more trunk space and enable engineers to create a more sophisticated rear suspension, but in theory, all you’ve got was rock-hard ride over bumps and holes. Runflat tires have enforced side skirts which makes them usable even when the tire loses all presure, but the comfort is sacrificed because the tires cannot absorb road damages, due to their stiffness. All BMWs have a wonderful balance between ride comfort and sharp responses so this new change wasn’t exactly received with a warm welcome. Of course, the ride would improve with speed, but perhaps a tire-repair kit as a standard would be a better idea.

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Where has the Car gone?

Designing a modern car is a demanding task these days – it must be safe yet made of lightweight materials, it has too look good but still be practical and spacious, the interior must ooze with quality, but the costs of the production must still be reasonable. Even more, the engine has to be more powerful but still consume less than before and the car must ride with comfort, yet the handling has to be entertaining.

A typical consumer always conducts a small research before buying anything, and most of us don’t buy cars on a daily basis, so choosing the right one can be pretty much stressful. Just remember the last time you were buying a car (presuming that you’ve had several options in mind), you were probably asking your friends, family and co-workers about their experience, reading reviews and comparing the stats. This last thing is crucial for the majority of consumers – the final choice is up to you, but you would probably write off a certain product if it got bad reviews, right?

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The year 2001 was a turning point for BMW in the new millennium when it saw the release of its both smallest and largest production cars: the new MINI and the next generation 7 Series. The first one was phenomenally successful, breaking BMW’s estimated production plan in just six month, but the second one raised many eyebrows and had polarized the opinions of public like no other car before.

BMW has always used 7 Series as a showcase for its newest technologies and at the time they are presented to the world, new generation 7 Series are always one of the most technologically advanced cars in the world. The 2001 E65 7 Series was the first car in the world to have a 6-speed automatic gearbox and adaptive dampers, changing the car behavior according to road conditions and driving style.

BMW also premiered iDrive, a ground braking control interface which replaces almost all controls and buttons on the cockpit with a single joystick and a LCD screen. While the iDrive was far from perfect (some journalists complained that it was too distracting to use while driving) Mercedes-Benz and Audi systems were heavily based on it when they emerged several years later.

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Any BMW driver would describe his car using words like quality, prestige and high technology wrapped into a distinctive package that is responsive, involving and fun to drive. These attributes can easily apply to all contemporary BMWs, but one model stands out as the symbol of the company’s DNA that runs trough all its models: the 3 Series.

Its success is remarkable; the 3 Series accounts for nearly 40% of company’s sales and has established a class of its own, the compact executive segment, in which it remains the market leader and the benchmark, as all of its competitors are judged on how close do they come to the 3 Series.
The social significance of the 3 Series and its status in the pop culture is also interesting, as the car quickly became the symbol of affluent youth, backed up by the yuppie movement in the 80s.

Furthermore, the 3 Series has even outsold significantly cheaper models, such as the Ford Mondeo in the UK and holds the record for winning almost every comparison test (which was also a subject of a German advertising campaign for the car).

The iconic scene featuring the E30 3 Series from the 1986 movie Pretty In Pink, where Andie (played by Molly Ringwald) talks about her crush, a wealthy young man, saying:
“He’s a richie (…) he drives a BMW!”

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Over the years, the competition between Mercedes-Benz and BMW was always intense, backed up both by the media and the fan base although the two companies (in most cases) attract different customer profiles.
However, due to the recent economic crisis, it is crucial to find new ways of reducing costs, but without reducing quality standards and luxury.

Developing new models is expensive, so the producers are always looking on new ways how to reduce costs, and joint development and platform sharing is probably the best solution to do so. While economies of scale make sense in the mass market, the customers in the premium segment are more demanding and seek more prestige.

However, with the emergence of “new luxury” brands in the late 80’s, the platform sharing has made its way into the premium class. Already successful in the large American market, Toyota launched Lexus and Nissan created Infiniti brand while Volkswagen owned Audi released V8 model in 1988, clearly showing ambitions to compete with then-dominating BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

The clear advantage of these brands is above mentioned platform sharing – using technology already developed for mass market products and selling it for a higher price. This should not be confused with badge engineering (where virtually same products are sold under different names) which was first applied to first models of Infiniti and Lexus and in early models of Audi, when it was relaunched under Volkswagen in 1964.

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In the last ten years, BMW has successfully proven that it can generate a significant amount of controversy regarding its way of business and car making. Just remember how much opinions the company has polarized with their stubborn but forward thinking decisions; the first X5, 2002 7 Series and the iDrive system, flame-surfacing design of the first Z4 and Bangle-styled 5, 6 and 1 Series, EfficientDynamics… All of these were subjects of numerous debates and have spawned both worship and hate, but also have skyrocketed BMWs sales and profit and have served as an exemplar to other manufacturers, resulting in many attempts to imitate the original BMW creations.

It seems that now nothing has changed: in May, BMW released a Gran Turismo version of the 5 Series, which generated negative comments about its distinctive and unusual styling and yet again, Audi has revealed several teasers of their upcoming A5 Sportback while Mercedes-Benz announced that the new E-Class family will receive a similar styled model. Interestingly enough, the two rivals feature the same dramatic sloping rear end and a sedan-like roofline.

Few days ago, BMW has released official pictures and data of the new compact SUV/crossover X1 and again, ad least two years ahead of the upcoming Spain-built Audi Q3.
As expected, rumors about the new Mercedes-Benz BLK began to spread.

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Most of you have already seen the previews for the next season of Top Gear so you have probably caught a glimpse of a thrilling race between the legendary McLaren F1 and much discussed Bugatti Veyron.

As mentioned in one of our previous posts, the Top Gear crew has always had an obsession to test exotic and supercars, rather than mass market, affordable vehicles. When they finally got their hands on the hyped Bugatti Veyron, the whole crew was impressed by its stellar performance.
However, not all in the automotive world shared their enthusiasm.

When Volkswagen Group acquired the rights to the Bugatti name in 2000, then-chairman Ferdinand Piëch announced that Volkswagen will release a Bugatti branded supercar soon after. This attracted much attention as it was revealed that the car would be the fastest road car in history.

After initial stability problems the car now known as Bugatti Veyron was finally released in 2005, priced at €1 million. As of today, the Veyron is the most expensive and with 407 km/h (249 mph) top speed is also the fastest road car available. Its W16 engine employs four turbochargers for exactly 1001 hp and 1250 Nm of torque.

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