2012 BMW 3 Series could harm the company

[BlackE90]

As much as we love the brand new F30 BMW 3 Series it seems it may not be as brilliant as we like to think because it may end up harming the company.Well, not really, but statistically at least, the 2012 BMW 3 Series could affect our favorite Bavarian company’s placement mostly because of the strain it would put on the finances.

It’s not like a brand new car that’s as well made as the F30 3 Series comes from nowhere, there was some serious research and development behind it.R&D is great, it paves the way for progress, something BMW’s entire lineup, though more recently the F30 3 Series is no stranger to, but it does have a major drawback.

R&D costs a lot of money, in fact, in the case of the F30 3 Series it cost so much that it may affect BMW’s lead in the profitability section of the finances.This situation, coupled with analyst concerns over a slowing down of sales within the luxury segment is a bit of a reason to worry.

That said, it seems like BMW’s spending on the new 3 Series is not much more than that. After all, the result of the spending is visible and the statistics don’t leave much of a mark on the company.As for the market conditions, if BMW is to take a hit from them so are its major competitors, thus making for an even playing field in which no leader change is expected.

 

[astroboy]

The money I spent in procuring a brand new BMW, is to play a role in funding the R&D so my favorite marque can continue to built great cars. To stay ahead in competition, is not to reproduce cheap copy of other's R&D efforts, but to continue to innovate. The company will go down only when they stop innovate. Panasonic management adopted the same idea and their biggest investment in their a/c is R&D. That's what great company does!

 

[ceteh]

BMW decided to beef up their R&D for 3 series as far back as 4 years ago must be based on justifiable reason. One area I see is in the sales of the 3 series for current and previous generation. It seems the 5th generation has not done as well as previous generation and one of the critics is line in the plain look, interior and exterior. I think they some what similar to the current Honda Civic (8th gen) which is a huge step forward compare to the 7th gen. To me (new comer to BMW), the new 6th gen 3 series represents huge improvement over the previous generation in terms of interior space, interior design and exterior design! Also, BMW is commendable to make a lot of high tech features for even the base 3 series, which I think helps tremendously to stay ahead of competition.