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Originally Posted by Jonjt
Can BMW really sell enough of all these new models to make it worth while?
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They're certainly betting that this is the case:
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Robertson says that the company could have sold 35,000 more X3s worldwide if the Spartanburg plant had been able to build them.
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That quote applies only to the X3, but they appear to be supply constrained. Flexible platform sharing is the holy grail of automotive technology. How many times have you heard someone say, "I'd totally buy car XYZ, but I really don't like how it ABC" in response to a refresh of an existing model? Varying the line up is a means to capture more buyers by providing
specifically the car they want.
Unfortunately (maybe) for BMW, this could also be history repeating itself. Detroit has used a similar strategy in the past. That's how GM ended up with so many brands. The idea was to diversify their line up to the point that they literally had a car for everyone. The difference with BMW is better technology is available this round. Better platform sharing technology allows for a lot of flexibility, while still reducing engineering and tooling costs.