Is It Something As Simple As Variety That Allows BMW To Dominate The Luxury Market?

I don't think it's because of variety. A lot of people choose BMW because of the image it has, plus their lease deals are great. Before the image thing, lots of gear heads chose BMW over the others because of driving dynamics and so that takes another chunk of the market. Me? I chose BMW because there are no other options when it comes to decent driving dynamics with a manual. I think too many car manufacturers try to make each model appeal to the entire population instead of having a model for different customers.

balldoc54: +1. I agree.

It's NOT the number of available choices that makes BMW a raging success. If that were true, GM would be ruling the roost right now! BMW creates highly desired products that appeal to people for different reasons. For some, it's image (buying into The Club). For others it's the BMW ride. For others it's getting a decent car with a standard transmissions. For others, it's a luxury vehicle that leans primarily to the sporting side.

Offering a high number of models is not the key (GM). Offering the highly desired models that result in profitable sales, is (BMW).

The model proliferation strategy for BMW will be its undoing. BMW dominated the luxury market because it offered sedans that were first and foremost excellent handling and dynamic cars people could drive on a daily basis, which also came with a nice dose of luxury. This is what BMW was in the minds of consumers. BMW's slogan wasn't the "Ultimate Driving Machine" for no reason. If people wanted luxury they went to Mercedes-Benz and if they wanted something different they went to Audi.

What is BMW today? Today, BMW is a car company that is hell-bent on creating a variety of models, but consumers are often times unable to distinguish what separates a 3-Series GT from a 4-Series Gran Coupe. The same can be said for the 3-Series Sedan and 4-Series Gran Coupe.

It doesn't help that BMW's new SUV designs have been a turn-off for a lot of people. The X4 was created to fill a niche that may or may not exist. Consumers are left wondering why they shouldn't just get an X3 or X5 instead of the ugly X4. The 5-Series GT was another questionable vehicle in terms of design and was a sales failure in the U.S.

The Active Tourer minivans further make consumers question what exactly BMW stands for and what is it doing to its design strategy.

Those driving dynamics are a thing of the past, too. The "Ultimate Driving Machine" is a distant memory when BMW's latest offerings like the 5-Series, 7-Series and even the bread and butter 3-Series are no longer the best driving vehicles in class. Many, many publications have vilified and ripped BMW for selling-out and creating vehicles that are luxury first and sport second instead of the other way around, which is what BMW prided itself on.

BMW's independent structure is also no longer adequate to survive in a sea of competitors that have the resources of much larger auto giants. Audi, for example, has the benefits of being a member of the powerful Volkswagen Auto Group. This allows Audi to share parts, platforms etc. across the VAG brands including Bentley, Porsche and Volkswagen. This results in cost savings for Audi, much faster model creation and higher profit margins.

Audi has used those higher profit margins to invest in new model development, research and development and technological innovation.

Where does BMW stand today? Still behind Audi in terms of profit margins and barely ahead of it in global sales while trailing in the crucial Chinese market.

While Audi is also expanding its models at a break-neck pace, it is doing so with a much greater focus on its core brand values of design, technology, innovation and luxury.

Well ...the 3/4 series represent most of the BMW sales...and no, it is not a luxury cars in my "personal" opinion. In the other hand most of the MB models are luxury cars with excellent sales index, so for me the luxury market is dominated by MB.

Okay, maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but I never described BMW as having variety. If anything I'd say Mercedes has something for every nitch.

- No high performance large sedan (a la S63/S65)
- No large GT (SL/SLS)

They've gotten better about their SUV selection with their self-titled SAVs but some of them are also missing performance trims. Every Mercedes has an AMG variant.

Mind you, this says nothing of performance, craftsmanship, etc. I'm just focusing on variety.

Not variety. Audi is doing a grand job, and it has less variety available in U.S. than BMW, as a matter of fact, since its faceplant in the 80's, Audi's turn around is more impressive than anything BMW has done.

BMW's (and Audi and MB) success is more macroeconomic than anything. When the tide rises, all ships go up - the global economy is improving with better leasing and financing options available to the "common" man. As more people make money (technology workers, MBA grads, health professionals, etc.), they want to "live the dream" and drive a car that defines their accomplishments. BMW has a 1 in 4 chance (Lexus, MB and Audi being the other 3 with Jaguar suddenly becoming shortly) of winning over these upper middle class workers. If you're in a slightly higher tax bracket, you may consider a Porsche or Land Rover. You can lease a Porsche Boxster or Cayman for $599/month - pretty amazing.

And when all these leases end, these BMWs end up at CarMax or CPO for another round of financing at a 30% discount.

Variety in most cases works against you, making for buyer uncertainty and not finding availability in stock, though for BMW it may help with strategy of keep owners on the leasing gravy train and giving a purpose to keep trying to find that ultimate model.

Seriously? BMW has turned itself into the premiere luxury auto brand, dwarfing competitors?

WHAT? Ever heard of Audi, Mercedes-Benz? Porsche? This is the most ridiculous article I've ever seen on this site... Tell agent 009 to slow down on the Muscatel, and get a grip on reality. Truly ridiculous... Embarrassing. Do you guys have an editor that can read?