What is going on with BMW’s weird decisions lately? Doug DeMuro does not have a clear answer to such a broad question, and in hindsight, not even the Bavarian company has a clear strategy to make things better.
The following video starts with a tasteful roast in the guise of “everyone’s second favorite German car brand,” which can be considered inaccurate as far as U.S. sales figures are concerned. On the other hand, it’s pretty obvious that Mercedes has a more cohesive design language and corporate identity.
Doug also takes us down memory lane with the Bavarian automaker’s 2001 lineup for the U.S. market, which is compared to Chicago Bulls in the 1995 and 1996 seasons. Just over two decades later, “things have changed. BMW has been, like, making fun of people on Twitter. That’s where it’s gone.”
The automotive vlogger is referencing the unsatisfactory reception of the iX, an electric SUV with an oversized kidney grille and a few other questionable styling motifs. For some reason or another, BMW criticized the critics by telling them “OK boomer,” which is hilarious for a couple of reasons.
First of all, a condescending attitude is exactly the attitude we associate with a particular type of boomer. You know, those individuals who mention “back in my day” too often. Secondly, insulting the people who have enough money to afford to buy a BMW and service it at authorized dealers is crappy.
After the mother and father of Twitter backlashes, BMW issued a public apology. “No matter what age you are, we hear you. We are sorry, it wasn’t our intention to insult anyone with meme slang. The way into the new world of mobility is bumpy, but we hope you join us on the journey.” The question is, who is going to join a brand that doesn’t really care about customers?
This know-it-all and to-hell-with-your-opinion school of thought is best exemplified by none other than Domagoj Dukec, the chief of design. “It is not our goal to please everyone,” he told British motoring publication Top Gear, and that’s not the only problem with the automaker’s higher-ups.
“Not all our products get the same critics,” said Domagoj. “You can see that on something as polarizing like the kidneys on the 4 Series, 20 percent of people are liking it. That fits the type of customers we are targeting.” When the design department believes that it knows better than the people in charge of consumer relations, you know that something will inevitably change.
Given the current state of affairs, there are two changes to speak of. BMW will either act in the consumer’s interests or the consumer will bid the Bavarians farewell in favor of rival brands from Germany or Japan.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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