BMW Sunday Service | PH Review
We expected a collection of special BMWs. You delivered
If you came to our most recent Sunday Service a couple of weeks ago (sorry this report is late, I clocked off on holiday shortly after), you’ll know that BMW UK’s headquarters in Farnborough isn’t your average business park. It’s Disneyland for fans of all things Munich. So, if you weren’t able to make it, here’s what you missed out on.
You know that there’s no better mix of cars than at a PH Sunday Service, and while there was once again a fantastic array of metal on display – special mention to the Noble M600 and Opel GT – this was absolutely the place to be for BMW fans. Each level of the company’s (terrifyingly narrow) multistorey was packed with some sort of rarity, such as a manual E46 M3 CSL, green-over-tan E39 M5 and a new G81 M3 Touring that’d been given a lightweight makeover using bits from the M4 CSL. The real showstopper though was a BMW Individual-specced manual E31 850CSi with a part cream, part blue leather interior. Very bold, very tasteful.
Special thanks go out to the PHers who gave us biscuits and to those of you who listened to me babble on about PH Project Car ad infinitum. A massive thank you to BMW as well for hosting and for putting on a cracking breakfast – though I did have difficulties dragging myself away from the company’s heritage fleet parked out front.
You really had to be there for this one, but don't worry if you weren't able to make it. Join in the conversation here. Our 25th-anniversary party at Bicester Heritage is just around the corner (get 12th August in your diary) and it’s going to be our biggest event ever. Tickets are still available here, so best nab yourself one before it’s too late!
When on the bmw stand at FoS I sat next to a couple of bmw hq staff in the owners grandstand - they were not from marketing, and admitted they found the old stuff far more attractive but hastily added it’s not what the market was demanding.
When on the bmw stand at FoS I sat next to a couple of bmw hq staff in the owners grandstand - they were not from marketing, and admitted they found the old stuff far more attractive but hastily added it’s not what the market was demanding.
Apart from the small team given “front of house duties for the day” I did not see that many Other “Visible BMW staff” although they may well have been floating around incognito on a Sunday and admittedly I spent more time in the multi-storey than I did in the main Building.
I do not believe you will find many answers to your questions from Farnborough even on a working day.
The New electric Mini looks entirely like it’s been designed for the Chinese market, especially the information interface. Not to my taste but I’m sure the kids will love it ( if they can afford it) if you cannot get the latest Mini designed/targeted for a Western Europe/UK market then what hope for the rest of the range?
And today some of the styling criteria comes from far further east than Munich
SHANGHAI has its own design centre.
In brief the “Market” isn’t the UK and The target purchaser isn’t a 50yr old Man.
(For me peak BMW was a 6 series Batmobile which now seems to me more like a current M2 in footprint )
Equally Jaguar used to sell on nostalgia and look what happened to them.
Apart from the small team given “front of house duties for the day” I did not see that many Other “Visible BMW staff” although they may well have been floating around incognito on a Sunday and admittedly I spent more time in the multi-storey than I did in the main Building.
I do not believe you will find many answers to your questions from Farnborough even on a working day.
The New electric Mini looks entirely like it’s been designed for the Chinese market, especially the information interface. Not to my taste but I’m sure the kids will love it ( if they can afford it) if you cannot get the latest Mini designed/targeted for a Western Europe/UK market then what hope for the rest of the range?
And today some of the styling criteria comes from far further east than Munich
SHANGHAI has its own design centre.
In brief the “Market” isn’t the UK and The target purchaser isn’t a 50yr old Man.
(For me peak BMW was a 6 series Batmobile which now seems to me more like a current M2 in footprint )
Equally Jaguar used to sell on nostalgia and look what happened to them.
I would have felt the same about seeing this in my 30’s, if this is my future I’m walking ..
I would have felt the same about seeing this in my 30’s, if this is my future I’m walking ..
They do quite often have the Heritage cars being prepped in their workshop - these include E30 M3, E39 M5, 3.0 CSL, 2002 Turbo, Z1. I'm like a kid in a sweet shop when I see them.
They showcase a lot of the new models here before the general press and public get to see them. This recently included the XM Label Red, new i5, the new CSL, new M2 and the new X5.
They must have had a press M5 event on a few months back, as they had an array of M5s over the years parked up in sequence.
It is cool to see them parked up next to the modern day equivalent and remind the world how pretty the cars were back then compared to now.
Having said that, the new 7 Series / i7 actually does look quite nice in the flesh, but is very colour and spec dependent.
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