BMW might still be the king of its segment in the eyes of many but other brands are gunning for it as it seems to be faltering in at least one key area. We asked you all how you’d pilot the company if you became CEO. Your answers were varied but there’s at least one very clear takeaway.
Typically, we’d go down the list of the top five or so most upvoted comments but due to your answers, we’re going to have to change that formula up a little bit. You’ll see why soon. In our honorable mention spot, we find a few interesting ideas.
“Get rid of the XM, anything FWD, redesign the M3/4,7 series front end” says GT40_2. GranTourism had similarly pointed advice. “Keep powertrain development on its current heading. Fast-track the i Vision Circular concept with the i3’s carbon tub, replacing the UKL cars. Dump the “M40i” stuff,” they said. Finally, Reagan1 called out the “long touchscreen interior crap and rework the M3/M4 front grille.”
Read: Which Korean Car’s Design Has Aged The Best From The Last 30 Years?
Those comments hint gently at the far-and-away winners of this competition, of which there are two. First, Prosperous Peasant has four clear steps they want to take. “Stop putting M logos on everything. Reserve it for actual M cars and even then just a single M badge on the rear. Stop dabbling with subscriptions like seat heaters. Improve post-warranty reliability. Bring us a modernized 90s body style 850csi.”
We really can’t argue with any of that from an enthusiast standpoint but it does sound like shareholders might disagree. Nevertheless, the other top comment was one that a great many of you upvoted and still others of you just said over on your accord. Design is the big issue at BMW.
Here is just a small selection of the answers that all pointed at BMW’s design language. “Fire ALL of the designers”, “Replace the current head designers”, “Get rid of the designers”, “Fire my current designers”, “fire the design team”, and “Completely fire the design team and hire new people.” Those aren’t even all of the comments primarily pointing at design failures.
Counting only those comments alone, combined they registered 45 upvotes and only 4 downvotes. PhilMcGraw ended up with the top comment with his very specific admonition to “Fire Dukec… Hire Ian Callum…”. Clearly, BMW’s current design team isn’t getting any love…
