Do 80% of the BMW 1-Series owners really think their car is Front Wheel Drive?
 

BMW's CEO, Norbert Reithofer, shocked reporters earlier this month when he shared that research indicated 80% of 1-Series owners think there car is Front Wheel Drive. The surprising statement was made in response to questions from the media asking if Front Wheel Drive BMW's currently in development will weaken the brand.

Do you believe the data, or do you think BMW is trying to soften the resistance to future FWD vehicles by suggesting it's a non-issue today. Please take our poll and share your thoughts.

Here's a link to a report detailing the revelation from AutoWeek - click here

What a stupid thing to say.:facepalm:
I seriously doubt their customers don’t know what they drive.
Even if a few customers don’t know it’s a RWD, why insult your customers.
They have are a lot of customers that are very proud of their own vast BMW knowledge.
Unfortunately with leadership like this BMW customers are losing loyalty & becoming fewer & fewer.

If they don't know what they drive, trying putting their cars in a foot of snow. They'll figure it out pretty soon. :)

Read this article in Autoblog... it still sounds completely unbelievable. :rolleyes:

Great comments, that was my reaction too.

I think BMW is at risk of trying to be all things to all people - does the world really need a FWD BMW?

At a minimum, why would you want to insult your customers? :confused:

I'm not so sure.... :)

Haha....that's a good one. :)

BMW's in the house......
 

I had to smile when I was checking IP Addresses and noticed that BMW was in the house. :wave:

I even noticed that someone started the registration process but stopped when they read our Eligibility Rules. Thanks for honoring our terms of service, I respect that.

In regards to this thread, I think BMW has an excellent product line but I believe there's a risk that the brand will lose its cachet if it tries to be all things to all people. Maybe it would make more sense to expand the MINI brand instead of trying to broaden the BMW brand?

Regardless, thanks for visiting the forum. :)

Awww, we could have strengthened that BMW presence. I need someone to validate my high lease payment on my 3-Series. :)

Yeah, but the eligibility rules indicate no factory employees and this IP Address originated from the BMW Manufacturing Facility in Spartenburg, SC. I guess you'll need to find someone else to validate that lease payment. :rolleyes:

That said, while there will always be a private area for dealers on the forum, I can envision a day when it would be valuable to have factory people, lenders, vendors, etc. on the forum.

My view on this is that the percentages are definitely inflated, but sadly after having dealt with our client base on a regular basis I know that a large percentage of our client base doesn't have a clue about their cars.