Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucian009
I don't know if I'm the only one with mixed feelings about this. I'm happy for BMW to be successful and I know that cars are still engineered in Germany, but I fear that the mentality and brand characteristics get further diluted. Far cry from where this was 50 years ago. This plants the first seeds in my mind to start looking for a less globalist make.
By the way, just saw a 1940 movie with a gorgeous BMW roadster (shown in contrast with an equally gorgeous, opulent Benz). It looked like the same unmistakable mix of performance, luxury, and style, that carried through the times. Roundel was identical.
|
You can’t make a case that supports your fears. BMW has been producing vehicles in South Carolina for thirty years now, since 1995. In the early days they produced the E36 3er and 100% of Z3s were produced in Greer. About half of the pre-G20 3ers in the United States were produced in Rosslyn, South Africa and overall the Rosslyn plant achieved higher levels of quality production than the German plants. Rosslyn has been in operation since 1972 and produced five generations of the 3er. Magna Steyr in Austria has produced various BMWs, including all of the E83 X3s, the G30 5er, and currently all of the G29 Z4s. Building cars outside of Germany isn’t what is screwing up BMW today. They are managing to do that just fine right there in Germany.