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      11-10-2012, 02:33 AM   #22
AusF20/F48
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Drives: F20 125i MS, F48 XD25i
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Brisbane

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This will be BMWs volume seller (if they can keep it price competitive with gadgets)
FWD is much cheaper to produce.

All the other car manufactures build them.
In the small car (hugh volume) market, a hundred dollars difference in the on road price means loosing the sale. The cost difference between FWD and RWD would be too great.

If you look at how many people bought the previous A Klass by Merc over the past 10 years because it had the badge on it, you will now understand the need for a FWD car from BMW.

BMW is under pressure from several makers building lower cost FWD small entry level cars.

In these price brackets, people do not care if the car is FWD or RWD. It is now the price and goodies they consider. The only premium they will pay slightly more for is the badge on it. Mercs new A Klass is being bought because of that big badge on the front.

The reality is that a lot of People just want a A to B car (there are millions of them out there) and will not pay thousands extra for a proper RWD. They do pay more for a badge on the car, so they drive the cheapest version with the badge on it.

BMW is in the real world and in the small commuter car world FWD is the only solution.

The funny thing is that both BMW and Merc now have a problem with what to call an even smaller car as you cannot go lower than 1 and there is not a letter before A.
It will be interesting to see how both deal with this.
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