September27
During a speech on the company’s future today, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer said there are currently no set plans for the German automaker to add a fourth brand, but the idea is still under consideration.
Earlier this year, rumors broke about a possible acquisition of Volvo or Alfa Romeo. Reithofer confirmed various options were examined.
“None of the automotive brands we evaluated meets our requirements at present,” Reithofer said. “The premium business remains our strength – not the near-premium business, nor the mass market segment.”
Early reports suggested BMW wanted a brand with front-wheel drive expertise to couple with MINI — thus the Volvo/Alfa speculation.
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung yesterday reported indicate BMW would target more a premium European nameplate instead. Apparently, the Jaguar and Land Rover brands have not been eliminated from consideration. Land Rover was once owned by BMW, before it was sold to Ford.
Go after VW? Volvo would have been a good idea for what BMW is trying to accomplish
Ok, BMW sold Land Rover to Ford few years back - off the charts. Jaguar does not add anything to the table: mid to large size real wheal drive sedans. Volvo they decided to skip probably for same reason as Jaguar, except it is front wheal drive. They do need a mass production car (Morris - mini is a boutique). Peugeot is a French manufacturer who could provide just that, but who wants to deal with French labor laws in addition to German? It is probably a company in Asia for low cost mass production vehicles to which BMW can add cache of its own name or dust one from the old bin (Morris?).
autonut I agree with the LR, Jag, Volvo not being probable. I’m not sure about the low cost Asian idea. Buying any Asian company will give a little credibility to the Asian manufacturers that are always gunning for BMW. Plus low cost, high volume is against everything BMW. They lean toward luxury (BMW, Rolls, Land Rover) or unique (Mini) cars that have established names. A low cost, mass produced Asian manufacturer wouldnt fit in. There are many Euro nameplates out there BMW could buy and turn into something unique.
I guess Land Rover won’t be back for BMW…the line up is almost the same as they left.
i would like to see Lotus or TVR with BMW.
Driven, those are mere speculations. If BMW wants to sell 2 million cars per year, Asian manufacturing can provide the springboard. They do manufacture sedans in South Africa and I believe in China (I could be off on China but I am sure about So. Africa). Attaching European marque to Asian made car make sense for less then luxury brand. There is nothing left to snatch in East Europe and they had no stomach to deal with British unions no more then with German. Things may change.
Lotus & TVR have owners (Asian I think) and I don’t believe they are for sale any longer.
@autonut you seem to forget that PSA Peugeot Citroen is a much bigger company than BMW, so that would be pretty hard for BMW, that’ll be just for engine cooperation. As for other brands, I could see SEAT or Lancia as the most obvious takeovers, unless BMW is bringing back another of the old BL brands, I think that they kept the rights to use Riley and Triumph, maybe Humber, since they made some the world’s first AWD cars.
Maybe BMW will make a non-luxury brand to compete with “L—s” and “A—a.”
shut up jjt Anything that Acura or Lexus makes is better than anything you want to buy So dont be jealous
BMW needs a brand that will sell fuel-efficient vehicles so that it can continue to make its premium cars. According to Barron’s that’s their major concern… bringing fleet averages to an acceptable level for EU regualators.
Although I’m not sure what brand BMW coudl possibly be considering, it will need to be smaller vehicles. I also agree that LR/Jag makes little sense… unless Volvo is just unloading them to get rid of debt and not charging BMW much for them.
I’d love to see BMW/Porsche get together, but with Porches acquisition of VW that’s highly unlikely. Could the new Daimler join BMW? It would be unlikely because of the history of competition between the brands… then again, the times they are a-changin’.
My guess? A Chinese company. If not, Subaru or Hyundai. Both of which could benefit BMW and vice-versa. It could also be Saab, a natural substitute to Volvo. Besides GM would love to rid itself of Saab and BMW would acquire the AWD technology that Audi developed for Saab (XWD or something) which is supposed to be the best in the industry.
And yes, BMW operates the world’s most efficient car plant in Shanghai. Every line worker has a masters in engineering (which is a much lower level of skill than the US equivalent of that degree) and they salaries are something along the lines of $100/month.
I meant Ford is unloading them, when I said Volvo.
tripleonefluffer:
why so hostile?
I want to buy a ferrari 599. So to quote Marshall Poole ” Care to revise your statement, sir? ”
angelo: BMW and Hyundai together would be practically unstoppable
^ I was thinking the same thing (I hope you’re not joking). What BMW needs are two things:
Entry level/affordable sedan line (not Mini, too small), and exotic supercar with a history behind it (the way Audi acquired Lamborghini). Since Ferrari, Aston, and Porsche are not for sale, that means they’ll have to build their own halo exotic sports car. Maybe a new M10?
So Volvo would have made sense, although Hyundai seems even better!
@angelo, I think that SAAB’s AWD technology was developed by a swedish company called Haldex, hence the diff’s name, and not Audi, Quattro uses Torsen diff’s, exxcept for the A3 and TT, which use VW’s 4motion, based on Haldex diffs.
Yea, I literally just thought of Hyundai as perfect partner today.
I’ve got nothing to back that up with, strategically it could be an amazing partner though. It’s the cheapest option with good quality and they’re just dabbling into RWD now. The dealer network is solid, reputation is good and they sell in Asia, Europe and the US.
I’m looking forward to the big speech. Anyone know if there will be a translated video or transcript anywhere?
Eurlion, you may be right. Though I’m sure I read somewhere that Audi helped Saab develop it, maybe I’m making it up… Either way, Audi is actually changing it’s Quattro system to make it more similar to XWD.
I agree with Syrax; Lotus is an excellent candidate.
Proton is for sale and Lotus has made major efforts into streamlining their production as well as having their debt swiped clean.
The M5 engine would squeeze nicely into the Espirit. I like this idea so much, almost as much as Toyota buying Lotus, which is optimal.
Hmm…so Triumph might be making a comeback? Interesting times ahead…
Bring back the Isetta nameplate for a mass produced vehicles that fill the market beneath Mini:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isetta
Actually BMW had wanted to aquire a stake in Volvo long before Ford did. Read up on the Renault/Volvo deal. If any brand was to be brought into BMW it would be Volvo but seeing as BMW is doing some restructuring its a big maybe.
isetta actually is a weird option, but one that would make sense in a way
why not just announce something when it is going to happen?
A GUESS THEY WANT TO MAKE THE RIGHT MOVE AT THE RIGHT TIME AQUIRING ANOTHER BRAND.