Quote:
Originally Posted by jmack123
You do realize the label "M" is arbitrary correct? Or can you give me the exact performance specs etc that constitute a "true" M? They label the SUVs with the M badge because relative to their competition (including the other non-M SUVs in their lineup), they are geared toward higher levels of performance. In other words, relative to their competition, they are designed to outperform their class in the same way the sedans are. I guess we will agree to disagree here.
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"M" was the shortened version of Motorsport. BMW by virtue of their moving from "Motorsport" to simply "M" is admitting this is marketing and not a designation reserved for sport cars. The boss of the new named division is the "M-Brand" manager.
They could have stuck with "M-sport" for those SUVs that are "geared to a higher level of performance". Or what happened to those "M-Performance" models that BMW recently decided really were "real" M-cars all along?
BMW isn't alone in this brand inflation. Mercedes puts AMG on nearly anything from wheels on a 4-cylinder A-Class car to an entire beast of a sedan. And now we have Alpina trucks, for Dog's sake. Ford is probably more true to their names by reserving SVO and Cobra for only limited models.
If anyone does not interpret this as the dilution of the BMW Motorsport division with its distillation to "M" stuck on anything, then I submit they've not spent enough time around BMWs. They missed seeing the 3.0CSLs and the 320i Turbos race with four-feet of flame coming out of their exhausts at Road Atlanta. They probably don't know the derivation of the colors and circle segments in the original Motorsport badges.
They can do whatever they want with their bloated trucks, but it is a sacrilege to play on the Motorsport heritage in doing so. It's just ///Marketing.