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First of all to all the purists out there. We DON'T PAY THE BILLS AT ANY AUTOMOTIVE COMPANY that large. M3's, CLK Blacks, GT whatevers are not what keeps people employed. 3s, cayennes, E-Classes, and stuff like this do though. Honestly it is probably for the best. If we kept the high revving engines and less efficient transmissions BMW would have to make more cars to offset them. You would end up with more low power cars in the brand and many of you seem ready to scream saying it is diluting the brand and changing the image. Truth is that the image has been changed for a long time now. When you say bmw to most people they think luxury, not a pure bred sports car. Sporty cars are what makes BMW not mercedes or lexus. Thing is though most buyers who spend that kind of cash want a luxury car first and a sporty car second. Not to mention a sporty car to most people isn't much of anything. You could give an SL to most and they would think it is sporty. Hell a 335i has a nice torque kick down low to make most think they have the fastest thing around. (though to most things on the road they do) Look at the industry as a whole. What do you have in your car that makes it any better than a legacy for the money. (flame suit on, though in my defense I can name many individual great things about bmw) The things that make a luxury car special can be found in just about anything today STANDARD. Hell they aren't even special anymore. Heated seats, nav, leather, and even stability and traction control is mandated for next year. You really expect to sell a premium car to premium buyers and not have standard leather or auto dimming mirrors as standard and not piss many off along the way. Digressing here for a sec but that is just ridiculous that you pay a premium package in a premium car for stuff that honestly should just be standard. Then on top of that you want to make these cars less efficient. You can't expect to stay in business for a long time with a product that on the surface isn't any better than the rest of the lot. The mustang 5.0 is a great example of a means to an end. The m3 is a better car overall (imo) but you get nearly the same outcome for way less money in a more efficient setup (fuel wise) Most of you wouldn't buy the mustang as it isn't what you want in a car. I can understand that. But can you honestly say you would buy a car if it had no option for nav, heated seats, and all the other luxo barge stuff that I see most of the users here with. There isn't anything wrong with that either. Even if you would buy the M5 lotus edition model you would be one of maybe 20 real world buyers. How many of you have 6mt over DCT in an M3. And even though it came out later who bought the 6mt over the SMG in the M5 e60 when made available. What do you care if the car is DCT or Auto if it accomplishes the same thing overall. (I am no engineer so I don't claim to know if one is truly better or not) I can understand you say things about engine response and the benefits of high revving motors and whatnot, but it just doesn't make sense to a company that is known for it's prestige more than it's performance these days. Hell even porsche succeeded well with the cayenne. Many complained in the beginning and still do. But it ended up being the savior of porsche. If they dropped the cayenne they wouldn't have been able to make the GT3s we all love so much. Here is what it comes down to really. It is better for the planet and the future. One day fuel will be gone. Whether it takes 20 years or 200. We have to make steps in the right direction. The environment is also at risk. Would you want to be that one company that is still known for not being green. It is going to happen eventually. Just like smoking. You will become a leper for not being efficient or green. Like hummer buyers became at one point. If you want your car to be a bat shit insane high revving, non turbo, lightweight pollution box it is going to cost you. Are you willing to pay for it if it costs another 10k? Maybe, well how about if it costs you another 30-40k? That is what bmw would have to do if it doesn't meet regulations. (I don't know the numbers. Making shit up but you get the idea) You are going to have to pay the fines as they will be passed on to the customer. Even if you would pay most won't. On top of that most of you are full of it and would just go get a porsche or something higher end anyway at that point. And that would take sales from bmw and ultimately could crumble the brand. None of us wants this. It is inevitable, change will have to come to ALL BRANDS. Unless you are paying 200k + for a car.
All of this is my opinion and if I am wrong please just point it out. I am no statistician, engineer, or accountant so maybe I don't know what the fuck I am talking about.
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