Quote:
Originally Posted by yco
i believe it used to be like that..
BMW had better chassis and engines before but recently in 4-5 years Mercedes closed the gap chassis wise and engines as well.. Merc' is going with steady right steps and now actually i believe BMW is falling behind these days unless BMW makes some right moves in chassis, engine and esthetics.. even if deliveries been delayed until 2021-2022 Mercedes' AMG Project ONE is a crazy car.. its a big big project in all terms for automotive industry and BMW doesnt even have an idea of making something like this.. it is a shame...
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BMW has certainly lost its confidence. It's stuck between two worlds and doesn't know how to make it work.
It knows the inevitable that it must embrace the future of tech, electrification, and regulations but is struggling to do that in a manner that is cost effective, competitive, and compatible with its ethos.
Other companies are able to champion such change and future-driven visions while also launching exciting new enthusiast projects and/or keeping its core enthusiast cars relatively pure.
The original idea of the BMW i brand from onset was to keep that differentiation and some had hoped (myself included) that it would mean M can then focus on being just M and BMW i can expand the electrification portfolio and somewhere along the line they can perhaps synergize and make a serious good hybrid + ICE sports car combination...but that didn't work out too well for BMW.
We look at cars like the AMG Project One, Aston Valkyrie, Porsche 918, etc. and see the possibilities of incorporating modern intelligent materials with 'old school' ICE engines coupled with electrification.
On the other side, we also see pure electric cars from Tesla et al that are very usable and capable as well.
In either case, BMW had flirted with both ideas (i.e., i3 and i8) but has not been able to commit to either.
What ends up happening is a lot of wasted effort for nothing. In the end, BMW gained neither the market share nor the clout it wanted with the experiments of the i3 and i8, all while the doomsday is rapidly approaching for 'traditional' BMW M drivetrains/engines/cars because BMW couldn't develop a real strategy.
I think being a standalone independent company in the face of huge conglomerates makes it that much more difficult.
But it's a true tragedy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jstein55
Just the thought of a light weight 2-seater super/sports car using the S85 and a manual transmission would have literally been amazing.
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Hear, hear.