[faucj]

Personally I don't like this small-van type of design, the sort of squashed proportions a lot of electric/hybrid/city cars have.

I've traditionally liked BMW for the way the company seemed to stick to its vision of what a great driving (and looking) car should be, regardless of the market, unlike a GM or (lately) Honda, which frequently seem to chase the market to capture trends, often with less-than-stellar results.

I like this comment, from the creator of another valuable brand:

"We didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.”
– Steve Jobs, 1985

This is how BMW used to seem to me. As an enthusiast who has driven and owned the classic 02-series cars and is now planning to buy a 1-series (E82 or E88), I’d be interested in seeing (along with the more traditional offerings) an electric or maybe hybrid version of the upcoming 2er - like the ActiveE - with the more traditional proportions of a sports coupe, the kind of car BMW defined so well. I always thought a sporty electric coupe with fundamentals basically like the original 02-series would be cool.

Jobs also reportedly said, "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."

While needing to make sales is understandable, I hope BMW sticks to its original vision and follows guidelines like Jobs'. As for me, I'm going to be interested in the dynamics, styling, and basic durability of a car, and if BMW loses any of those things - regardless of its “image” - I'll be nostalgic for the company’s better days, but look to other brands.

It is worrisome that at least one magazine I know of has found BMW losing some of its legendary feel and great driving dynamics (“2013 Audi S6 vs. 2013 BMW M5, 2012 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG,” Car and Driver, June 2012).