[fijigabe0]

It's right in the quote: "open sports cars". BMW is really looking at the Z lineup. They aren't big volume sellers (they haven't been for a long time), and aren't attracting enough buyers to commit engineering resources to the development of additional models. The Z5 may be the last hurrah.

As much as people want to complain about the GT's or the even-number X-series vehicles, they really don't cost BMW much in terms of development. They're all based on existing models and platforms, which are just modified with different style lines to fit another niche market.

The interesting question is what will happen to the i platform: I think BMW will keep it around, not because it's a big money maker, but because it's a test bed for future technologies that will be rolled out on future BMW models. It's probably easier and more cost effective to test something out on small scale sales, like the i's than it is to roll out a full line on the 3 or 5 series.