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Originally Posted by kgroschi
Overall, that's true. But I don't like that BMW, MB and Audi are trying to make a vehicle for everyone out there. The main reason for that though is to sell less powerful and more efficient engines to meet the average fleet consumptions that are required in the EU and also in the US soon. By raising the amount of different models (mostly lower end models) they can lower the fleet MPG while still offering V8's in the M division. So if it takes BMW Vans so that we can still enjoy the M's, so be it.
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Emissions is definitely part of the reason why, but BMW sells quite a few non-M cars for every M car they sell, and with their 4 cylinder turbo and other efficient powerplants in their non-Ms, they are doing well at keeping their emissions average low. For every one M3 they sell I imagine they have to sell at least 2-3 non-Ms.
So as far as I can tell the biggest reason for doing this is still just to try to reach more markets. It will certainly give them a bigger buffer to be selling more and more high-efficiency cars, but I dont think thats a sole driving force behind this move to niche markets.
And Mini is factored into BMW's emissions as well.