95 M3

[e30sd]

are you serious ted? the e30 m3 had abysmal sales numbers. they sold as almost as many e36 m3s in one year.

as for the csl comment, many ltw's were in the showroom till well into '96. some had to have A/C reinstalled so people would buy them. the performance car junkie is a niche market. it makes a lot more fiscal sense for BMWNA to make something like the ZCP and sell it over here, cause it will make money. the csl wont. too bad. ok. sorry. i love you too.

[bmwm3n528]

Would be cool to see BMW do a special order deal for some of the cars that are worth getting. (i.e. CSL)

[rwh11385]

are you serious ted? the e30 m3 had abysmal sales numbers. they sold as almost as many e36 m3s in one year.

as for the csl comment, many ltw's were in the showroom till well into '96. some had to have A/C reinstalled so people would buy them. the performance car junkie is a niche market. it makes a lot more fiscal sense for BMWNA to make something like the ZCP and sell it over here, cause it will make money. the csl wont. too bad. ok. sorry. i love you too.

he knows what is up.

a salesman talkin about the new 3 series says 3 out of 5 are going to be ordered / bought as automatics.

Americans DO NOT LIKE STICKS, even SMGs.

Where are Peoguets? Not here. Won't sell. Only offered as sticks.

[nando]

There is a reason why the new m3 CSL won't make it over, and the main reason is that thought process. Its a shame.

and that reason is it would never pass our emissions laws, and crash testing it would be prohibitively expensive (considering how low volume they are).

so profits are bad for BMW? how? that doesn't make any sense at all.

[bmwm3n528]

Americans DO NOT LIKE STICKS, even SMGs.

Although i've heard that the US market was the market that ultimately gave the e60 M5 an manual transmission option. Go figure.

[trent]

jordan was making a joke about the 95 m3 being a 330is and not an m3... some believe that the ///m stood for ///marketing in those years (which it did)... true "sports cars" don't come in 4 doors, a convertable, or with a luxury package...

damn BMW for wanting to make a profit and stay in business!

No shit? They didn't seem to have a problem getting rid of the previous m cars that were more of a no-frills performance car. Also - if you think the bulk of sales comes from ///m division, or bulk of profits, you're way off target. Also, is your profit ideology always good for the brand or brand image? The answer is no. There is a reason why the new m3 CSL won't make it over, and the main reason is that thought process. Its a shame.

You are a little off base. E30 M3s sat on lots for years. Pasha is 100% right. BMW ///M is crap these days. It is all marketing shit.

The main reason the CSL won't come over here is it won't sell.

[Jand3rson]

Where are Peoguets? Not here. Won't sell. Only offered as sticks.

Aside from the obvious fact that the average American, especially now, would NEVER buy a French car.

[Sean]

Where are Peoguets? Not here. Won't sell. Only offered as sticks.

Aside from the obvious fact that the average American, especially now, would NEVER buy a French car.

I'd be included in that statistic! hehehe :D

[nameisbradgreen]

Just found a 99 M3 at a BMW dealer...

http://buzzlot.com/includes/showpicture.asp?img=/root/data/automanager/Daniels_Cadillac_BMW/EY81150.jpg

80k miles for $20,000

goin to test drive it today :twisted:

[uofom3]

There is a reason why the new m3 CSL won't make it over, and the main reason is that thought process. Its a shame.

and that reason is it would never pass our emissions laws, and crash testing it would be prohibitively expensive (considering how low volume they are).

so profits are bad for BMW? how? that doesn't make any sense at all.

Crash testing could be a slight problem - emissions is not a problem. For a very minimal amount of R&D costs, they could certainly make it work with the well tuned alpha-n variant EMS and a CAT.

BMW is not having poor profits, re-read my post. BMW ///M does not account for a large amount of their profits or sales numbers. At any given time, the ///m car that is out is the top of the line BMW you can get for that line (3/5/6 series) in terms of performance. They offer these cars not soley to make a huge profit, but to keep them established as one of the worlds top performance auto marques, and not just luxury cars. BMW's offer a combination of luxury and performance, and ///m is just showing what they can really do when the luxury is turned down, and performance is turned up.

[uofom3]

jordan was making a joke about the 95 m3 being a 330is and not an m3... some believe that the ///m stood for ///marketing in those years (which it did)... true "sports cars" don't come in 4 doors, a convertable, or with a luxury package...

damn BMW for wanting to make a profit and stay in business!

No shit? They didn't seem to have a problem getting rid of the previous m cars that were more of a no-frills performance car. Also - if you think the bulk of sales comes from ///m division, or bulk of profits, you're way off target. Also, is your profit ideology always good for the brand or brand image? The answer is no. There is a reason why the new m3 CSL won't make it over, and the main reason is that thought process. Its a shame.

You are a little off base. E30 M3s sat on lots for years. Pasha is 100% right. BMW ///M is crap these days. It is all marketing shit.

The main reason the CSL won't come over here is it won't sell.

Yes, e30 m3's did sit for a while.

I was not refering only to the e30 m3, but also other variants of the different time periods. Another reason some of these cars sat during that time was a huge recession in the American economy. As the country recovered in the mid 90's, BMW was able to sell more ///m cars. They also took advantage of the economical upswing, and offered all of these different variants.

my initial post was saying exactly that - bmw ///m stands for marketing in the US today and most of the rest of the world. We will never see the hardcore ///m cars over here. Most americans are complete tards when it comes to cars, but damn they like huge gas guzzling SUV's.

[uofom3]

are you serious ted? the e30 m3 had abysmal sales numbers. they sold as almost as many e36 m3s in one year.

as for the csl comment, many ltw's were in the showroom till well into '96. some had to have A/C reinstalled so people would buy them. the performance car junkie is a niche market. it makes a lot more fiscal sense for BMWNA to make something like the ZCP and sell it over here, cause it will make money. the csl wont. too bad. ok. sorry. i love you too.

Totally agree the e36 sold as money in a year, or damn near.

I think the CSL and the LWT are the same idea, but much different cars. The m3 CSL is far different than the standard e46 m3. The LWT was a stripper and had some parts removed and aero-upgrades, but powerplant wise and even ergonomically inside it wasn't much of a change. With the CSL you get much different engine setup with a better EMS, vastly different interior conditions, and different body work. The distinctions between stanard and CSL are drastic and noticeable. I believe that would help sales numbers here in the US. Its just like how Acura doesn't exist in Japan. Over there, it's all honda. Americans need to have something different, more exclusive, ec.t to want to buy it. I think the CSL offers that level of exclusivity and variance that would make it appealing to the consumer-whore mindset of the american populous - especially the people with the change to buy one of these things.

I want to make clear that i'm not lumping together BMW NA or AG or anything else with BMW M GmBH. BMW NA's sales figures are doing verywell indeed at this point. With the upcomming release of the 1 series and soon the BMW minivan, their market share should continue to grow.

BMW NA could import a few of those cars, and sell them at astronomical prices, and people would buy them. The cars could at least be offered on a special order basis. After my track day last week, I am positive there are people who could afford to purchase the cars.