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Lapps March 18, 2010 10:35 AM

So, BMW is designing a range of cheaper, lighter, less powerful cars using technology best suited to cheaper lighter less powerful cars.

And your point is??

nicksheele March 18, 2010 10:54 AM

Good blog. However, you don't emphasise enough Pischetsrieder's business decision to acquire Rover's front-wheel drive technology for BMW really lay in his personal, emotional desire to relink back to his great uncle, Alec Issigonis, the inventor of the Mini. This clouding of a major business step for BMW with a personal desire lay at the root of Pischetsrieder's eventual sacking by BMW and the hundreds of millions of marks wasted by BMW in its Rover adventure.

You also should consider that BMW's consideration of a move into front-drive small cars in the early to mid 90s was also driven by their shadowing of Mercedes-Benz's moves. In 1993 M-B were investing heavily in Project Vision A, which became the A-class. BMW saw this as s threat by their old rivals and needed to counter it. As it turned out, neither the expensive A-class, predicated on a frugal and partially battery-powered future or BMW's counter with acquiring Rover's small cars portfolio could be called other than failures.

JackB March 18, 2010 1:46 PM

I'm sorry, but the most important point in this story is totally missing here. No boss will admit that, because they don't want to undermine new models' worth, but the sole reason for those front-drive abominations is horrid EU legislation. It forces all manufacturers to go below the average figure of 120g of CO2 for an entire range of cars of a given brand from 2012. And that's why the hateful Cygnet was born. All in the name of hoax global warming hypothesis.

HiltonH March 18, 2010 3:03 PM

JackB - I don't know if you can remember back to 1990, but we were all in 'green panic' back then, too. If was that era that spawned the Mercedes A-class, as NickS says. The pressures on BMW to go front-drive then, were the same as today, if not quite as intense.<P>

But you're right. Eco-concerns are at the bottom of all these front-drive, premium car decisions.<P>

Lapps - The point is that BMW considering going it alone on front-drive as far back as 1992, Now they've finally done it.

Faustcar March 18, 2010 4:45 PM

Excellent blog indeed. I have also wondered whether part of the reason for BMW purchasing Rover and Land Rover was to get access to the 4x4 know-how available at Land Rover, to assist with their own development of what would eventually become the X5. If that is true, maybe the purchase was in the end more succesful then it is usually given credit for. Thoughts anyone?

noluddite March 18, 2010 5:06 PM

'Still, at least the new baby BMWs will be based on a new front-drive platform that is 100 per cent pure Munich.' I may be mistaken but I thought I read that the platform was to be shared with Mini and Purrgrot? Won't the latter have some input? Like the irony though.

david RS March 18, 2010 5:38 PM

The pressure to make FWD is stronger today than in the 90s. It enables to reduce CO2 emissions ; and also better benefits in passive safety.

It enables to make cars cheaper, more habitable.

A layer of marketing above and it will be good.

This is what I feared.

And when it will arrive and when BMW will extend it to its range, BMW will loose somewhere its soul.

Everyone does not feel the effects of the RWD, but it is one of the major characteristics of the brand.

They may do good FWD. The problem isn't here.

You can go to Audi, which is well ahead in perceived quality.

HiltonH March 18, 2010 6:08 PM

Faustcar

The X5 had been partly developed by BMW before it bought Rover. It was mostly based on the E34 5-series iX Touring. Indeed, jacked up 525IX Touring prototypes were snapped on the M40 back in 1996.

BMW pressed the button on the X5 when they decided BMW could build its own road-biased SUV.

noluddite

As far the reports from the BMW press conference go, BMW will do this platform alone and then offer it to 'existing partners'.

Better that the Mk3 Mini and BMW 0-series are based on a BMW platform, than based on PSA-BMW platform. They need to demand premium prices so, from a marketing point of view, I'd guess that a mass-maker really can't be involved the engineering.