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Originally Posted by Weiman
Not sure why platform sharing would be a bad thing. More sales per platform gives more money for development of that platform. I'm sure the 7 chassis is good enough for a Rolls, and the Mini is surely as good as any other FWD chassis.
Also the F20 shared most of its underpinnings with the F30. RWD yes, but still sharing.
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I didn't say platform sharing is bad, BMW did. BMW used to publish magazine and TV adds that said they did not compromise design by platform sharing, which implies other manufacturers that do platform share do compromise design. My point is BMW has with recent models dropped most of it's design ethos (weight balance and no platform sharing), which is what I liked about the company. Component sharing is a different thing, as is inner-model differentiation (i.e. sedan, coupe, wagon).
The auto industry has been platform sharing since almost the beginning. It can be taken too far though. I'll put forth that GM ruined Cadillac's reputation by thin-veiled platform sharing with Chevrolet back in the 1980's. I think VW's MBQ architecture is a bit thin as well. VW makes something like 30 car models off the same platform.
And no way the 7-series is good enough for the base of a Rolls Royce. Not the real Rolls Royces from the original company.
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A manual transmission can be set to "comfort", "sport", and "track" modes simply by the technique and speed at which you shift it; it doesn't need "modes", modes are for manumatics that try to behave like a real 3-pedal manual transmission. If you can money-shift it, it's a manual transmission. "Yeah, but NO ONE puts an automatic trans shift knob on a manual transmission."