In Defense of BMW's Bodystyle Binge

"TomFlasheYoung" (tomflasheyoung) 07/06/2014 at 21:53 • Filed to: bmw, niche, rant

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Does the mere existence of the 4 series make your blood boil? Do you cringe at the 3 series GT? Has BMW abandoned you , the automotive enthusiast? Fear not, intrepid reader, and consider what BMW's current body style binge means for future auto enthusiasts everywhere.

Interchangeability

Six. That's how many different body styles are based just on the 3 series/4 series architecture. Throw in Alpina and //M versions, and the future BMW enthusiast will have a buffet of high-performance parts to mix, match, swap, and tweak to fit their car. Imagine a lowered X4, or a 3 Series GT with a //M driveline, or even…. A brown-diesel-manual 3 series wagon with Alpina bits. Sure there will be some difficulties with getting electronics to play nice, but I'd be willing to bet it won't be too hard.

Individuality

You probably view your vehicle as an extension of your personality. Think about the used car market in ten years. You will be faced with a plethora of bodystyles in different shapes and sizes to choose from. What better way to express your individuality? So what if the X6M isn't your thing, someone will totally dig their weird ridiculous wago-coupe-cross-thing ten years down the road.

Everyone else will do it too

BMW and Mercedes have lead the charge, but Audi and Porsche are starting to diversify as well. Maybe someday, mainstream automakers will be more willing to do smaller runs of unique, niche vehicles. Things get better for auto enthusiasts when there is more competition and options.

So next time you're about to get snarky regarding the M-version-of-the-sedan-version-of-the-coupe-version-of-the-sedan whatever, think about how much more interesting things can get when automakers go a little (or a lot) nuts when developing non-existent niches in the market.

dmcspeedy > TomFlasheYoung 07/07/2014 at 14:03

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I'd argue that BMW followed Audi. After all, it was Audi who had the idea to take the A4 cabrio and coupe, spin them off as the A5 line, then charge a premium for a different badge. And then let's make a 5-door hatch and call that an A5, but the wagon can be an A4, then repeat the whole recipe with the A6/A7 ...

BMW just took the ball and ran with it.

TomFlasheYoung > dmcspeedy 07/07/2014 at 17:36

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That's certainly a valid point, it fell of my radar since Audi has avoided a lot of the model-proliferation criticism. Mercedes might also be the true culprit, as they started the whole "four door coupe" thing. Either way, I'm all for weird and wonderful variants of cars.