U.S. sales of quirky 5-series GT disappoint BMW

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05-25-11, 09:15 AM

#46

mmarshall

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Fizzboy7

It's the same end result for the last 30 years. Americans do not like cars in between a sedan and SUV. They either like a sedan or they like an SUV. Most hatches have failed here and more will continue to.

The Subaru Forester and Outback have both been hugely successful. They do pretty much what you have just said here.......combine a slightly-raised regular auto-chassis with AWD SUV all-weather capability. The public (including myself) loves it. The Volvo XC-70, which is done on the same general idea as the Forester and Outback (combining a regular Volvo 70-series car on a raised-chassis with a full-time AWD system), is also quite popular, but not to Subaru levels.

Last edited by mmarshall; 05-25-11 at 09:18 AM.

05-25-11, 09:40 AM

#47

IS-SV

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Fizzboy's point exactly. The Forester and Outback (current versions now designated as SUVs), current versions sized and styled with the height/weight/profile of small SUVs, have had far more sales success than the smaller wagon-like previous gen versions.

05-25-11, 09:44 AM

#48

flipside909

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The GT disappoints because its ugly. And because here in America, we are so obsessed over the SUV, wagons and 5 door hatchbacks wont sell as well like they do in Europe. Its the "Bigger is better" mentality that stands here in the USA.

05-25-11, 09:57 AM

#49

GS3Tek

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Quote:

Originally Posted by RXSF

If we can learn anything from the 5GT and the R class, is that people are not willing to spend 60K on this type of minivan alternative. They would much rather go the full SUV route

so true

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fizzboy7

It's the same end result for the last 30 years. Americans do not like cars inbetween a sedan and SUV. They either like a sedan or they like an SUV. Most hatches have failed here and more will continue to.

what about the venza? I haven't looked at the numbers but I think it's a success?

for the 5GT, besides being ugly, it's toooo damn expensive.

05-25-11, 10:02 AM

#50

IS-SV

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Quote:

Originally Posted by GS3Tek;6416897

what about the [COLOR="DarkRed"

venza[/COLOR]? I haven't looked at the numbers but I think it's a success?

for the 5GT, besides being ugly, it's toooo damn expensive.

Venza is a success compared to Crossturd/ZitDX/5GT, but still relatively low volume compared to SUVs like Highlander/CRV/Forester/Outback/RAV4, etc.

And Venza looks good to most which is a plus.