Quote:
Originally Posted by turbo8765
Nice of you to do what you must and try to put a positive PR spin on this, but in the end this is c/w and indicative of the paradigm shift that has occurred at BMW.
BMW appears to believe profitability in the future will not be optimized by focusing on things that have lead me to purchase numerous BMWs in the past. They've abandoned the driving enthusiast.
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Everything mentioned above is indication they have not abandoned the enthusiast as they combatting primary issues for driving enthusiasts such as lighter cars and emphasis on weight reduction across the spectrum and a new generation sports car programme which remains RWD/AWD.
The FWD cars are a symbol of growing demand for compact cars across the globe.
The compact market is highly competitive and cars entering the compact and sub-compact segment have to be competitive and in key areas such as space and available technology. If you sat in the Active Tourer in Geneva? Tell me you were not impressed by the quality and space of the interior?
Compact and Sub-Compact cars are important because they are and in the case of the new FWD architecture extremely profitable.
FWD based cars will pay for extended future research and development.
There will be further developments with BMWi but at the moment all current concentration is on the first two BMWi models the i3 and i8 which have gone from concept to production. There will be another BMWi concept soon that will show potentially further progress and again it will be reaction that will determine its future.
The M cars are going to be in the greatest position of all. The M3 and M4 shows what was available at that time. But progress by 2016/2017 when the G30 based M5 arrives in 2017 that progress in CFRP will be much further along.
The G30 will use CFRP in its structure but M5 will follow the M3 and M4 and use it in key areas of the engineering and for the first time on the body panels.
The same follows true for the joint BMW/Toyota cars which will include the next generation BMW M6.
BMW is the worlds largest manufacturer in producing Carbon Fibre based cars and this is due to the significant investment to build facilities and develop the process. The benefit is that it becomes entirely cost effective and allows BMW to spread the material across their whole portfolio as it becomes produced in more volume and becomes even more cost-effective.
How this is important regards an industry rumour at the Geneva Autoshow regarding the next Mercedes-Benz E-Klasse which they were considering to sacrifice its profitability in order for a lightweight CFRP structure like the BMW i3.
For them to do that they need to have a car like the i3 in production now and they do not , they are not even at that level of producing volume CFRP and they need the E-Klasse's profitability.
BMW's Autonomous drive function is developed towards Safety and Self-Park in which you will be able to step out of you car and use your display key - similar to the BMW i8s to garage your car.