Official Hi-Res: 2009 BMW 3-Series Sedan and Wagon

[Bravada]

Really, let's get serious guys. The car is the best-looking 3er ever, and the 3er has been a gold standard in compact executives, both for other features AND for its styling, for a long time now. Even if the past models were on the conservative side, this one is strikingly contemporary. The Pontiac G8, the best-looking sedan GM currently makes, is clearly taking big leaves out of the 3ers book.

It is also Europe's TENTH BEST-SELLING car (joining a cast of compacts and superminis, mind you, and outselling the likes of VW Passat!), and I guess US sales numbers are also impressive, as well as global ones. People LOVE this car.

Cadillac's compact executive will flop, just as the current one did. People go to Cadillac for a big luxury car - something Cadillac offers only to North Americans, and in a convulted form. Just like people aren't interested in a Lexus SC, but will buy Lexus ES's and LS's, building a Cadillac compact executive is pretty pointless. OTOH, people come to BMW for the 3er primarily, and only its popularity allowed the brand to expand into 1ers, X5ers, 6ers and all.

Brand-building starts from establishing the firm core, trying to shift the core rarely works. And, as mentioned, GM already has a prime-positioned competitor in this market in the form of SAAB, which faces investment starvation...

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by Bravada

Really, let's get serious guys. The car is the best-looking 3er ever, and the 3er has been a gold standard in compact executives, both for other features AND for its styling, for a long time now. Even if the past models were on the conservative side, this one is strikingly contemporary. The Pontiac G8, the best-looking sedan GM currently makes, is clearly taking big leaves out of the 3ers book.

It is also Europe's TENTH BEST-SELLING car (joining a cast of compacts and superminis, mind you, and outselling the likes of VW Passat!), and I guess US sales numbers are also impressive, as well as global ones. People LOVE this car.

Cadillac's compact executive will flop, just as the current one did. People go to Cadillac for a big luxury car - something Cadillac offers only to North Americans, and in a convulted form. Just like people aren't interested in a Lexus SC, but will buy Lexus ES's and LS's, building a Cadillac compact executive is pretty pointless. OTOH, people come to BMW for the 3er primarily, and only its popularity allowed the brand to expand into 1ers, X5ers, 6ers and all.

Brand-building starts from establishing the firm core, trying to shift the core rarely works. And, as mentioned, GM already has a prime-positioned competitor in this market in the form of SAAB, which faces investment starvation...

100% agreed.

The 3-Series is the core BMW car, much like the DTS is the core Cadillac car, whether they want to accept this or not.

BMW's runaway success is due entirely to establishing brand principles, and sticking to them no matter what. Compared to the average luxury product in a given segment, a BMW shall be smaller, handle better, and have the BMW exterior and interior design that has barely changed in 15 years (a good thing in this case).

Compare this to Cadillac, who can't even reconcile differences within its own lineup, let alone stick to a plan. Escalade versus CTS... how are they similar in principle?

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by wescoent

100% agreed.

The 3-Series is the core BMW car, much like the DTS is the core Cadillac car, whether they want to accept this or not.

BMW's runaway success is due entirely to establishing brand principles, and sticking to them no matter what. Compared to the average luxury product in a given segment, a BMW shall be smaller, handle better, and have the BMW exterior and interior design that has barely changed in 15 years (a good thing in this case).

Compare this to Cadillac, who can't even reconcile differences within its own lineup, let alone stick to a plan. Escalade versus CTS... how are they similar in principle?

DTS is the core product? I can't remember the last time I saw one. CTSs and Escalades are everywhere around here, and I'd bet the same goes for more places. DTS is the old Cadillac's core. That changed whent he Escalade came around and shifted again with the CTS. The Escalade is probably still the core now. I see more STSs on the road than DTSs.

[emh]

Originally Posted by Bravada

Really, let's get serious guys. The car is the best-looking 3er ever

Well, that's a matter of personal taste. I still like the E46 better in terms of design (although in most other aspects, the E90 is superior) -- despite its age. And while I can't say for sure until I see the 2009 in person, the original E90 design seems less cluttered in some ways to me so far.

Cadillac's compact executive will flop, just as the current one did. People go to Cadillac for a big luxury car - something Cadillac offers only to North Americans, and in a convulted form. Just like people aren't interested in a Lexus SC, but will buy Lexus ES's and LS's, building a Cadillac compact executive is pretty pointless. OTOH, people come to BMW for the 3er primarily, and only its popularity allowed the brand to expand into 1ers, X5ers, 6ers and all.

That's the classic innovator's dillema, isn't it? You are good at something... do you stick to that or try your hand at other things? It's safe to stay with what you know, but what if someone else starts to do that one thing better... or that one thing goes out of fashion? Pretty soon, there won't be much of a market of large luxury sedans. I, for one, am glad Cadillac isn't just sticking to what they have historically done. If they did that, the two most successful current Cadillacs wouldn't exist (CTS and Escalade). I disagree on the Lexus and BMW commens too. Lexus' best selling model is the RX -- not where the brand started, and the worst embodiment of Lexus' "core values". As for BMW, I'm sure you are well aware the current 3 is quite different from the core values that defined BMW -- it's far too big and far more "feature-heavy". The 1 is closer to what the 3 would have been if BMW stayed true to the original "core".

While each brand needs a core set of values as a framework to hang everything else on, it should never be a cage that restricts brand evolution or venturing into new segments.

[jry]

Originally Posted by genjy

The sedan's rear is a tad bit better.

Still horrible, though.

Agreed.

You'd think that they could do better than this.