Achtung! BMW et al.: The Road Ahead To The Perfect Car Is Riddled With Undesired Compromise

by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img BMW

THE world is full of compromise – even for those who claim to be uncompromising.

In this market where every consumer wants his cake and the capacity to – yes – eat it, too, car makers are feeling compelled to produce more models that claim to be all things to all people.

Inevitably, if the world’s great marques were ever to actually fulfill this goal they’d only succeed in ensuring that their cars would be all things no one in particular.

Sensibly, what car makers seek outside their marketed maxims is a balance that encapsulates their “brand”. At the lofty end of the car market, that typically means finding a happy ratio between sport and luxury – though – “green” factors such as gas mileage and alternative fuel technology are playing an ever increasing role.

We’ll leave the latter aside for this discussion.

The trend over two decades seems anything but balanced as the scales have tilted towards luxury. And not luxury in a classic sense, but technological advancements that further separate the driver from the road and micromanage our experience behind the wheel and in the passenger seat.

Consider the BMW 7-Series.

The E32 7er (1988-1994) was a sublime executive performance sedan. Those large sharks were still fairly lean, athletic, nimble machines with cockpits that lavished attention on the driver and cradled their passengers, locking them in for what was sure to be a thrilling ride.

The old 7 was a driver’s car first. Sublime luxury car second.

The E65 7er (2002-2009) pulled the equivalent of an e-brake turn into the opposite lane of comfy cruisin’.

BMW had decided that since their flagship was competing against the Lexus LS and Mercedes S-Class, their best needed to be larger, cushier, and purpose built for comfortable highway travel while being just taut enough to handle the occasional switchback.

The ratio in the span of less than ten model years went from 60/40 – sport/luxury to 40/60. In the new F01 7er, that balance tipped only slightly back towards sport in a ratio somewhere near 42/58 thanks to enough outcry from traditionalists.

For a car company that markets itself as the “Ultimate Driving Machine” this softening along with headlong advances into the crossover segment is discouraging.

Jaguar, Lexus, and Mercedes have tried executing the opposite maneuver; marketing themselves as performance oriented, athletic answers to the mundane commuter car. They’ve only succeeded in making the same quasi-bland car for each segment that’s distinguishable only by degree.

Here’s the nugget: the only road to maintaining brand identity and a loyal customer base is by being true to the original premise.  In Lexus’ case, the perfect luxury people carrier. In Jag’s case – space, grace, and pace.

For BMW, that means living up to the ultimate driving machine maxim by ensuring every car that they build transmits, not insulates, the thrill of the drive.