Quote:
Originally Posted by Spa2k
During his speech at the Annual General Meeting of BMW AG in Munich earlier today, Harald Krüger, chairman of the board of management, gave his report to stockholders. He talked about how 2017 was the company's 8th consecutive record year - and how BMW is the most profitable car company in the world. He talked about how all brands and model series are going electric. He talked about the BMW i4 and BMW iNEXT. He talked about 2018 being BMW's "X year," with the X3, X2, X4 and X5. He talked about the shift toward sustainable, digitalised mobility. And he talked about "two highly emotional vehicles" - the i8 Roadster and the Z4 concept - that were on display next to the stage.
But he never mentioned M Performance.
While it's normal to focus on things with a high degree of "WOW Factor" in an annual meeting - positive financials, market expansion and new models - this should also be a reminder that while we're arguing about the differences between M2 and M2 Competition lug nuts or how the M5 Competition magically appeared, we ought to be thrilled that a small division like M Performance still exists - and hope that 5 or 10 years down the road, BMW is still offering some really great choices for us. I don't know about you, but today I'm going to take a couple of hours off, find a curvy road and drive my M2 - just for the fun of it.
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Many on this and other BMW forums write about BMW losing its way. Some predicted that BMW is washed up and will fail because they aren't the brand they used to be, don't cater to the enthusiast, dilute the M brand by putting the M logo on anything and everything, don't listen to us very knowedable forum members and do what we say, etc.
The auto market is fiercely competitive and changing rapaidly with government regulations, increased safety, the move toward electric, etc.
Many of the forum members are business people. Simply put, BMW exists to make a profit for its shareholders. While some of us don't like their product direction, its hard to argue that they have lost their way as a business.
As a BMW owner for the past 30 years and a car enthusiast, my personal view is they are doing and incredible job.