Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTT26
Unfortunately the ever changing aspects of the industry forced us to accept no more dogmas as legislation and customer reaction has lead to a progressive global market. You either progress? Which for BMW , independence is the overall strategy or you become part of a committee which defines your strategy only if your sister brands can have it.
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All of the arguments you provided could be taken 10 years in to the future and applied to an integration of the i and M brands. Not saying it's a sure thing obviously, but IMO, it's foolish to have company men throwing around the word "never".
I think a more realistic long-term cycle is that technologies developed as part of the i brand begin to find their way in to the primary BMW line up, as well as M automobiles. I'm not suggesting a wholesale transplant of drivelines or anything, but as technologies are proven and refined, it will begin to make sense.
For example, what happens when battery (or an alternative energy storage) technology advances to the point that there is a raw performance benefit to energy recovery systems? At some point, it will seem obvious that a performance car should not waste the energy spent slowing the automobile down. At this point, the line between i and M becomes blurred.
When the execs say "never", they mean "not for the foreseeable future". The latter phrase is a conspiracy theorist's perennial favorite, however, so executives avoid it. I think in this case, "never" is meant to add clarity to the direction of the i and M brands, not as a definition of timelines.