[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

They better if they buy it because they're going to be stuck with it for a long loonnggg time as those resale prices drop through the floor.

Brave be the Beaver buyers!

[SIZE="1"](the lease deals post facelift will be epic!)[/SIZE]

Originally Posted by GrussGott

Not to dump petrol on this battery fire, but BMW did indeed fail on BEVs, certainly by the numbers. Further, BMW's head of dev, Klaus Fröhlich is constantly saying stupid crap like this from June:

"There are no customer requests for BEVs. None. … There are regulator requests for BEVs, but no customer requests. … If we have a big offer, a big incentive, we could flood Europe and sell a million cars, but Europeans won't buy these things."

We can see the failure if we take sales numbers from 1h2019 in the top European BEV markets - Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands - where BMW sold ~4,100 i3s and Tesla sold ~13,000 Model 3s, a 3:1 loss in key markets against just Tesla. The only country where i3 sales come close is Germany and Tesla still beats BMW in sales. And keep in mind, this is JUST Tesla and JUST the 3, not other Tesla models or other BEVs.

So, yes, BMW's electric strategy is an absolute failure, however they have no choice but to proceed and double down, which is why Keuger is out. [COLOR="Blue"]From Bloomberg:[/COLOR]

As Krueger puzzled over how to reinvent BMW for the electric age, it was almost a year before he presented his strategic vision — which was a bust. He delayed BMW's next major electric car, effectively squandering its leadership in the field. Key engineers quit to set up an electric-vehicle startup. And to help pay for the shift, Krueger doubled down on gas-guzzling, super-charged luxury cars such as the 8-Series sports car and full-size X7 SUV.

"BMW took its head start in electric cars for granted and then failed to hit the accelerator again when needed," said Christian Ludwig, an analyst at Bankhaus Lampe in Bielefeld, Germany.

Ironically, here's what Krueger said in June:

"We have taken numerous decisions that we are now bringing to the road. By 2021, we will have doubled our sales of electrified vehicles compared with 2019."

Note that even if Krueger's prediction comes to pass they still lose in sales to just Tesla alone, not accounting for any other competitors.

Horrendous sales numbers, failed strategy, ousted CEO = failure.


Back on topic of the new g8x design: there's bravery, and then there's hold-my-beer stupidity ... which is this? Well, a lead designer usually doesn't put out a letter defending bravery.

I think his statements must be taken in context. I don't think he's defending. Rather, I think he's explaining the reasoning behind the decisiveness of the design and offering his perspective. The grilles are controversial, so people are going to be inquiring about the impetus for the design for the foreseeable future. Every interview(er) will undoubtedly ask, "Why?", along with the expected supplemental questions.