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Elon Musk Is the Boogeyman Used by the Heads of BMW to Motivate the Staff

To say that the traditional automakers ignored the threat posed by Tesla is as much a cliche as it is untrue. Likewise, it's not particularly Tesla that provoked the shift in the market toward electrics: the need was there, Elon Musk's company solely provided a solution.
Boogey Musk 109 photos
Photo: JD Lasica via Flickr, modified
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Admittedly, it did take legacy brands quite a long while to realize this isn't just a passing fluke, but the way the future is going to look like, and not over a particularly long period of time. They are adapting now, but with all their expertise, production capabilities, and financial might, they are still trailing, and by a considerable margin.

Out of them all, BMW must feel this the hardest. The Bavarians have been at the top of the premium segment for years until having just lost that crown to Mercedes-Benz last year, and they must feel as though there are no reasons to feel particularly confident over the coming years.

The company's saving grace might be the fact that its management is well aware of the risk of trailing behind the peloton, and it wants the employees to realize how pressing the situation is as well.

To send the message home, BMW is apparently organizing seminars for its staff where pictures of products from the competition - especially Tesla but also more traditional foes such as Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar - are being displayed accompanied by alarmist messages.

We’re in the midst of an electric assault,” the presenter of such an event says, as reported by Bloomberg. The ominous sentence is left to sink into the mind of the auditorium before the picture of Elon Musk shows up on the screen. "This must be taken very seriously," he continues, pushing the agenda even further.

Electric models isn't the only area of recent interest where BMW is lagging behind. The Bavarians have introduced the somewhat successful i3 model - and the i8 hybrid sportscar - back in 2013, but since then they've been awfully quiet on the EV front. What's even more worrying, however, is their laxity regarding autonomous driving technology.

The days when BMW could swoop clients with just the excellent handling of its vehicles and the promise of a sporty drive are over, and unless everybody at the company understands that and does something about it, losing the top spot to Mercedes-Benz would be the least of its worries.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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