While I was penning my brief review of the all-new BMW 3-Series diesel, the 328d, I went to BMW's USA website. I wanted to get a look at the current 3-Series lineup in its entirety and when I went to the series' page, I was actually stunned to see so many different 3-Series products.
I mean, I actually completely forgot that BMW was making an ActiveHybrid 3. Has anyone actually seen one on the road yet?
THINK: There's now a 320i, 328i, 335i rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive sedans. Then you have the 328i and 335i RWD and AWD coupes. The RWD convertibles. The 328xi wagon. The 3GT is around the corner as is the 4-Series Gran Coupe.
It just seems like a lot of overlap and possible cannibalization to me. And we didn't even include cars like the X1, X3 and X4 that will likely erode sales as well.
A wise man in the auto biz once told me that this sort of 911-ization of a nameplate is a good thing because it covers many more niches and there's "an ass for every seat," but — frankly — it seems like a lot of unique vehicle that will require more money to produce yet buyers may not make that paradigm shift to the all-new variants in droves.
That said, I knew I had to ask YOU, the AutoSpies faithful, if the BMW 3-Series has become too nuanced OR if it's just grabbing the attention of the MOST buyers as possible...
What say you?