BMW is renowned for sporty rear-wheel-drive sedans. But its front-wheel-drive 2-series Gran Tourer seats seven and needs only a sliding door to be a full-blown minivan.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz may need to change its slogan to "engineered like no other [Japanese] truck in the world" when it begins building a luxury pickup based on a Nissan Frontier chassis before the end of the decade.
In their quest to boost sales and achieve double-digit profit margins, Germany's premium carmakers are divvying segments into ever- thinner slices. In the process, they are stretching their brands figuratively -- and their cars literally -- in ways previously unimaginable.
Read Article