RE: 2023 BMW XM | PH Review
Discussion
They Don't Care What You Think!
As I already posted before, the British motoring enthusiast is a niche within a niche within a niche of their very tightly defined prospect for future survival.
And an awkward one at that- demanding right hand drive and an unfortunate suspension set up to cater for the appalling roads.
I’m not sure why the penny still hasn’t dropped yet amongst the locals as to why BMW are so goppingly wrong and awful these days.
As I already posted before, the British motoring enthusiast is a niche within a niche within a niche of their very tightly defined prospect for future survival.
And an awkward one at that- demanding right hand drive and an unfortunate suspension set up to cater for the appalling roads.
I’m not sure why the penny still hasn’t dropped yet amongst the locals as to why BMW are so goppingly wrong and awful these days.
whp1983 said:
Beyond hideous, who would buy this over any of its competitors or indeed anything.
As for M, surely they can only trade on the name for so long before people forget what they are/were about and it becomes just a chintzy trim level.
Yes. The future doesn’t look for Alpina either now BMW own it.As for M, surely they can only trade on the name for so long before people forget what they are/were about and it becomes just a chintzy trim level.
mrclav said:
hey stand for what any good for-profit business has always stood for - making money. If you look, you'll see that they continue to succeed and that, ultimately, is what what matters; they've sold more cars, made more profit and are in more markets effectively today than ever before.
No, the brand needs to stand for something to succeed in the market. It exists to make money, that's different to what the brand stands for.Clear branding propositions are more important than ever before in the car industry. That's why middle-market brands that don't really stand for anything have struggled, while brands that stand for something - anything - clear like sportiness or luxury at one end of the scale (say, Porsche) or value at the other (say, Dacia or Skoda) have done well.
In the short run, this car may do well. It's got a lot of visual impact. But it's not clear what it means from a brand positioning perspective. To me shock value and pure material consumption isn't a sustainable branding proposition.
BMW used to stand for something clear. It didn't matter that most people couldn't tell if it delivered on that, but it did actually deliver on that brand positioning. Just as hardly anybody who buys a Rolex diving watch goes diving with it. In the short run, Rolex can wheel out any old tat and people will cough up. In the short term, it wouldn't matter if Rolex sold a diving watch that was wholly incapable of going diving.
In the long run, the brand needs to stand for something to be sustainable. Eventually, if there's no substance underpinning the brand, then the business will suffer. So diving watches that nobody uses to go diving still need a certain level of engineering and the Rolex brand needs to stand for that for it to succeed in the long run. Same applies to BMW. This thing may sell well. But that doesn't mean it's taking the brand in the right long term direction.
dan98 said:
They Don't Care What You Think!
As I already posted before, the British motoring enthusiast is a niche within a niche within a niche of their very tightly defined prospect for future survival.
And an awkward one at that- demanding right hand drive and an unfortunate suspension set up to cater for the appalling roads.
I’m not sure why the penny still hasn’t dropped yet amongst the locals as to why BMW are so goppingly wrong and awful these days.
What the fAs I already posted before, the British motoring enthusiast is a niche within a niche within a niche of their very tightly defined prospect for future survival.
And an awkward one at that- demanding right hand drive and an unfortunate suspension set up to cater for the appalling roads.
I’m not sure why the penny still hasn’t dropped yet amongst the locals as to why BMW are so goppingly wrong and awful these days.
k does this thing existing have to do with what British people might want, or what side the steering wheel is, or what British roads are like? It's still as wrong whether you're in Munich or Manchester. Even the Chinese will laugh at it.
GeeTeeBee said:
Most of the time what seems like a stupid idea probably isn't, because people running these companies usually know what they are doing. Which is why they don't routinely launch disastrous products. Big car companies aren't constantly going bust due to terrible model launches.
I agree that most directors are basically competent and there’s factors at play in corporate strategy that aren’t obvious to people outside the loop so often what might seem like a bad idea often isn’t.I’m still not really down with just trusting the very wealthy to basically know what they’re doing though. I’m personally no insider, but I’ll bet there’s at least a few questionable people who reached high powered positions because of nepotism or organisational politics. I also know very well that sometimes important decisions get made by multiple different committees giving you a compromise that works for no-one and no-one wants to take ownership of. Also, I’m sure high corporate strategy is quite hard, and sometimes even the best people will just get it wrong, and sometimes that will be because of a lack of outside perspective.
I feel like we’re basically in agreement, though, really: this particular car will probably do well in the short run, but might not suggest the best direction for BMW’s future.
pquinn said:
The only pitiful thing so far has been the desperate appeals to authority to make this seem a good idea, appearing as it does alongside at least two other 'challenging' yet dissimilar high priced large luxury SUVs from the same brand. One or two maybe but this seems a niche too far.
It's surely fair to say that big car company bosses generally will know better than we casual internet observers regarding what cars to launch. The fact that they can sometimes get it spectacularly wrong doesn't alter the fact that they're generally in a much better position to make those decision and odds are if you think you know better, you don't.Every bone in my body says this thing has to be taking BMW in the wrong direction. And it's possible it is. But at the same time, senior BMW execs are still more likely to be correct.
pquinn said:
What the fk does this thing existing have to do with what British people might want, or what side the steering wheel is, or what British roads are like?
It's still as wrong whether you're in Munich or Manchester. Even the Chinese will laugh at it.
Precisely - nothing at all - it's an irrelevance, made worse by the requirements mentioned.k does this thing existing have to do with what British people might want, or what side the steering wheel is, or what British roads are like? It's still as wrong whether you're in Munich or Manchester. Even the Chinese will laugh at it.
You're more likely to see fleets of vulgarities in Munich tbf. The Chinese have a very different view on these things, as do the UAE. And take a look at the average American Ford / Ram truck to realise it's not exactly Manchester in mind here...
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