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Originally Posted by jmg
It was a rhetorical question, but the insight is very much appreciated!
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Sure, but that's mainly due to the fact that sales won't officially begin until next month. At some point the question will be asked with expectations of getting answers. I figured there was no harm in being a little proactive, right?
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Dealership inventory, factory incentives, the extent in which dealers are willing to discount will tell us if the new G8X will be a hit as far as sales.
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We already know from discussion on this forum that interest is strong and discounts are difficult to come by. But this trend - even if it continues indefinitely - is extremely unlikely (IMHO) to get much concession from anyone convinced that the the grill is going to tank the product(s). The reason for this is that qualitative observations like this don't always reflect market reality. Furthermore, the F8x eventually had lots of available inventory and copious incentives as well, while it has nevertheless been deemed a successful product.
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That said, I haven't nearly seen as many G20's on the road as I did F30's when they first came out.
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BMW publishes G20 sales numbers, so you can readily see whether your anecdotal observation is a reflection of its actual market performance.
However, the G20 does not have a "big grill" so I don't think it is relevant to topic of this thread. BMW did outsell its German competitors both in the US and worldwide in 2020, and was also the top luxury brand in the US. At the end of the day, they don't care (well, strictly speaking, they will naturally prefer to move higher margin product) if those are G20 sales or G01 sales, or any other BMW product. In fact, sometimes manufactures employ strategies designed expressly to move their customers from a product in a declining segment to a product in a growth segment in order to keep them from switching to a different brand. This is why I indicate that overall company performance is what's really important. Of course, it is possible to increase sales while decreasing profit, so even sales data can be deceptive. Furthermore, short term profit gains do not always indicate long term health and viability. These facts just add to the pile of reasons why I say there will be no winner at the end of this battle. Many of the folks that want BMW of yesteryear to return are forever going to hope for BMW of today to fail, and will forever claim that BMW of today and tomorrow is doomed.