BMW continue with their hostile "OK Boomer" marketing angle, despite criticism...

[Fusion]

The frustrating thing with BMW and the like is that they're more capable than anyone of making this happen. Premium/luxury car experience? Check. Highly skilled workforce? Check. Adequate funding? Check. Economies of scale? Check. Situated in a country with suitable government support- loans, grants, business friendly climate? Check. Solid global brand that graduates and engineering professionals want to work for? Check.

Germany is dripping in engineering and manufacturing expertise. Siemens and Bosch are on the doorstep. It's just unfortunate that German business can be very conservative and risk averse, and the automotive sector is no different. It shouldn't have taken outsiders to change the game. A lot of the competition is going to come not just from Tesla, but from China, where state backed players are getting established on their own turf. It's slightly reminiscent of the rise of the Japanese motorbike companies in the 70s. Leaner, more ambitious and focused competition usurping the previous big players. The Koreans too. I don't think BMW are going to disappear for one minute. But letting competitors and new entrants steal your thunder (and market share) should be unacceptable to any industry figures who consider themselves at/near the top of their game.

 

[4K8KW10]

The problem is the still very powerful lobby from the fossil fuel industry which has influence on them. They are weak and cannot say 'no' to fossil fuels.
They will learn the hard way if they don't want the easy one.

 

[adolf hamster]

Is anyone else mindful of the fact that BMW (and others) don't seem to be breaking their necks over electrification? The iX is squirrelled away on their website with no release date or pricing. The iX3 just doesn't look like a £60k car, and isn't available to buy yet anyway. No electric saloons, sports cars or hatchbacks at all. I like a B58 as much as anyone, but it's 2021 and the clock is ticking.

They aren't the only ones guilty of this, but it just feels like they're still treating electric as a novelty. I understand R&D costs and lead times, but they've had several years now to kick projects off. There's got to be massive strategic advantage in getting a foothold in this tech early on. With so many car companies and competition ever increasing, will we see one of the current players become a Kodak?

i though bm had electrified versions of a bunch of their "standard" range of cars.

ie if you want say a 3 series you can have it with an engine or a motor but otherwise it's the same car.

feels to me like that's the future of ev's- same cars we've always had just with motors in them.

 

[Nasher]

The frustrating thing with BMW and the like is that they're more capable than anyone of making this happen. Premium/luxury car experience? Check. Highly skilled workforce? Check. Adequate funding? Check. Economies of scale? Check. Situated in a country with suitable government support- loans, grants, business friendly climate? Check. Solid global brand that graduates and engineering professionals want to work for? Check.

Germany is dripping in engineering and manufacturing expertise. Siemens and Bosch are on the doorstep. It's just unfortunate that German business can be very conservative and risk averse, and the automotive sector is no different. It shouldn't have taken outsiders to change the game. A lot of the competition is going to come not just from Tesla, but from China, where state backed players are getting established on their own turf. It's slightly reminiscent of the rise of the Japanese motorbike companies in the 70s. Leaner, more ambitious and focused competition usurping the previous big players. The Koreans too. I don't think BMW are going to disappear for one minute. But letting competitors and new entrants steal your thunder (and market share) should be unacceptable to any industry figures who consider themselves at/near the top of their game.

One thing Germany seems to be lacking is artists who can design a good looking car

 

[4K8KW10]

One thing Germany seems to be lacking is artists who can design a good looking car

Mostly I do agree, but the Audi A5 is an exception. It is lovely - all of its versions:

audi a5 - Google Search


The VW ID.5 is also a good looking vehicle:





vw id.5 - Google Search

 

[Nasher]

Nice fake exhaust pipes.

The ID5 looks like what you get when you view a 16:9 image in 4:3. Maybe that was the mistake at the design stage

 

[adolf hamster]

not sure i'd describe that id5 as good looking.

maybe if it was compressed a couple of feet

 

[Akagi]

Yeah interesting definition of good looking.

But again, compared to the iPace its a Lamborghini Miura.

 

[Will Gill]

Gen X here. Clearly the coolest sounding generation name. Sucks to be everyone else

Ooohhh, I'm gen x too, im basically a bald wolverine

 

[Fusion]

i though bm had electrified versions of a bunch of their "standard" range of cars.

ie if you want say a 3 series you can have it with an engine or a motor but otherwise it's the same car.

feels to me like that's the future of ev's- same cars we've always had just with motors in them.

They're at the stage of plugin hybrids. The iX3 is fully electric, but not on sale yet. There should be electric versions of some of their models on sale already, really. I'm sure an electric 3 or 5 would have swept up the competition.

 

[adolf hamster]

They're at the stage of plugin hybrids. The iX3 is fully electric, but not on sale yet. There should be electric versions of some of their models on sale already, really. I'm sure an electric 3 or 5 would have swept up the competition.

that's the "e" models then? fair enough i thought those were fully electric.

 

[jpaul]

not sure i'd describe that id5 as good looking.

even the A5 ...too reminiscent of the >2015 angular civic, when that was redesigned for the millenials.
edit: was that when angular eyebrows came in ?

 

[Nasher]

It does look a bit Civic like. The Civic isn't bland though, if a bit weird.

I think it's cheaper to produce sharp angles than curves, so that might be the reason VAG has been trimming costs everywhere since their scandal and you can see it in the build quality on some recent cars.

 

[Tinders]

Audi has the nicest interior and exterior, shame they are dull to drive. Merc are smashing the

The frustrating thing with BMW and the like is that they're more capable than anyone of making this happen. Premium/luxury car experience? Check. Highly skilled workforce? Check. Adequate funding? Check. Economies of scale? Check. Situated in a country with suitable government support- loans, grants, business friendly climate? Check. Solid global brand that graduates and engineering professionals want to work for? Check.

Germany is dripping in engineering and manufacturing expertise. Siemens and Bosch are on the doorstep. It's just unfortunate that German business can be very conservative and risk averse, and the automotive sector is no different. It shouldn't have taken outsiders to change the game. A lot of the competition is going to come not just from Tesla, but from China, where state backed players are getting established on their own turf. It's slightly reminiscent of the rise of the Japanese motorbike companies in the 70s. Leaner, more ambitious and focused competition usurping the previous big players. The Koreans too. I don't think BMW are going to disappear for one minute. But letting competitors and new entrants steal your thunder (and market share) should be unacceptable to any industry figures who consider themselves at/near the top of their game.

I work for Siemens, the Germans, in my experience, are very very risk averse, they are not overly bothered about new entrants, but want to occupy the middle ground, as they know their brand and customer support will keep them in a stronger position than new entrants.

 

[Nasher]

But by never taking risks you never really innovate :/

 

[Mekrel]

It does look a bit Civic like. The Civic isn't bland though, if a bit weird.

I think it's cheaper to produce sharp angles than curves, so that might be the reason VAG has been trimming costs everywhere since their scandal and you can see it in the build quality on some recent cars.

I couldn't agree more on VAG/Audi build quality going down the toilet. I had my A4 serviced back in December and whilst waiting for my friend to pick me up, I was peeping into the windows of some of the cars outside (brand new).

What I saw on the interior compared to my current car was absolutely abysmal. The area housing around the handbrake was much lower and was dimpled black plastic, vs my current car where that area is raised, really makes you feel surrounded by the car controls and there's a brushed plastic effect that looks much better than the dimpled effect in the new car.

I then took a walk to the front of the car because I felt this must be an entry level trim only to find it was an S3! My PCP comes to an end a year from now and there's absolutely no way I would choose another Audi now. Might just keep my A4 and bank the car allowance, quite happy with the A4 as I have no interest in fun/speed and more into comfort - the only thing I would like is adaptive cruise control.

 

[One More Solo]

It's still an American add, probably need to ask american what they think - Boomer is a more insulting in the usa and barely used on its own in the uk,

Disney's cars it what come to mind, there must be a near identical conversation with the old timer, who eventually wins through against the upstart(reliability probably)
Mocking of the common advertising lingua-franca too, shows its light-hearted.

in contrast the merc add , gratuitously connect the blood line .. even if the childs not so pretty.
Enjoy electric. With the All-New EQC

I lost interest in cars a long time ago but that’s a quality ad.

 

[jpaul]

I think it's cheaper to produce sharp angles than curves, so that might be the reason VAG has been trimming costs everywhere since their scandal and you can see it in the build quality on some recent cars.

yes I think the angles pov is a good point, whether angles give more structural /crash rigidity though, not even mentioning cost of doing curves in aluminium too...
have modern production techniques managed to replicate what panel beaters used to do .. was that explanation of some of the past beauties e-type, db5 ?

Not sure where the edge design fad, itself, came from ? airplane stealth

 

[Nasher]

yes I think the angles pov is a good point, whether angles give more structural /crash rigidity though, not even mentioning cost of doing curves in aluminium too...
have modern production techniques managed to replicate what panel beaters used to do .. was that explanation of some of the past beauties e-type, db5 ?

Not sure where the edge design fad, itself, came from ? airplane stealth

Sharp edges are more likely to collapse and crease if knocked I think. It's almost impossible to knock dents out there.