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Originally Posted by GrussGott
I'm not convinced BMW is heading for disaster, just disaster-curious 
...But I am convinced the G8x is a risky bet of a product because legacy repeat customers think it's ugly and BMW knows it; as evidenced by their timid roll-out, the revulsion by repeat M buyers obvious anywhere online including here where long-term M3/4 members/owners have been sub-forum-banned for expressing negative opinions (an unprecedented forum first), |
Repeating this doesn't make it true. Pulling threads off topic over and over has always been against the rules, and it always will be. It's trolling. When your cat dies, that's sad, and naturally you'll receive sympathy. But at some point you have to move on because no one cares anymore, and you're making it impossible to talk about anything else. As you are keenly aware, there are ways to manage grief without spreading misery to others. Enough said on that.
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and the general online consensus. I've been into cars for 25 years and I've never seen this level of agreement on anything ever.
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It's been rehashed over and over, and we aren't going to derail on this. But we can bring this back around. It's a fact that passenger car sales are in decline, and BMW obviously knows this. So, you can stick the same formula and watch that happen, or try something else and maybe extend life a bit. Sometimes chaos results in order. Passion can drive people to do unexpected things. And most importantly, marketing is manipulation.
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That said, BMW sells a lot more than M cars and in a lot of other markets - especially China ... The west is getting tapped out for growth, while China is of similar size & just opening up:
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I'm not disagreeing with your general conclusion, but China had the health situation (which this thread is also not going to be dragged off topic into discussing) better managed than most of the rest of the world so this data isn't particularly well suited to making longer term conclusions. But, yes, we know the trends, and there are clearer opportunities for growth in some markets than others.
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If China sales grow, then BMW will be fine ... and/or BMW may be able to find a bunch of new western customers to replace all of us legacy customers running for the hills.
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Or maybe when all these dead cats finally get replaced, it turns out people stick with a blue and white tabby or calico after all.
