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Originally Posted by mkoesel
However, they got caught off guard by how attracted their particular target customer would be to an affordable electric sport sedan. They are playing catch up now, and it is very difficult to predict how things will further play out over the next decade. Unlike most other manufacturers, BMW's smaller size (relative to a GM, Toyota, or Daimler, I mean) and the nuanced overlap between a BMW customer and target Tesla customer has left them in a very vulnerable place. Creating a new brand specific to the US right now is the last thing they need.
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But that's my point - Tesla is huge and dominant in the US. BMW needs to battle it - where it dominates. Tesla sales are flat in Europe where they represent less than 0.2% of new car sales volume; BMW represents nearly 7%. Tesla sold like 200 cars in Japan in 2017. It doesn't even have 1% of the
EV market over there.
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What they need is the right product - no one cares what the brand is, nor what you call it, it just needs to be able to distract people from Tesla - and they need it like yesterday.
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BMW should indeed protect market share from Tesla, and Chevy, and all the others I listed above - in the market where it's being taken, which was my original point. It needs an offshoot of product development that is right for that target. It's not weird. They're doing it in China right now with cars that make most of you chuckle. Long-wheelbase 318s, mini-MPVs, 1 series sedans with three-cylinder engines... you name it. Why not do the same in NA with cars that make most of you reach for your wallet, rather than your stomach?