[Terri Kennedy]

Originally Posted by SARAFIL

I wish BMW had offered more variety in the wagons (E46 330, E91 335, F31 340, etc.) but I can understand why they didn’t. I get the “if they had imported it they would have sold more!!” argument but I really doubt there would have been enough additional sales to justify it.

Part of the blame can be placed at the FMVSS (the rest belongs to the manufacturers who don't press the issue). If a certain model powertarin (engine / transmission / cats / exhaust) is certified to US standards in one body style (330xi sedan) it should be possible to paper-certify that powertrain in a different body style (wagon) without going through the full round of expensive certification. Similarly, if a vehicle meets a more stringent acceptable foreign spec, it should be considered "type accepted" in the US.

Just look at the fugliness where the US was forced to use obsolete round sealed beam headlights and the manufacturers were falling all over themselves going "thank you! thank you!" when they were finally allowed to use rectangular sealed beam headlights while the foreign market had been using capsule lamps for multiple model generations. Or the giant protruding bumpers forced on imports (often with obscene suspension lifts to get them at the right height).

Then there was the "5MPH bumper" debacle - my '95 Talon came with a note that said that the bumpers were rated for collisions up to 5MPH, but that would result in "serious structural damage to both the bumper assembly and the vehicle chassis."

One of the few things I agreed with Stuka about was his "abolish NHTSA and FMVSS" goal. They could easily be replaced by adopting a common european standard.

Case in point - look at various recent cars where enthusiasts insist on a manual being a “must” but then take rate is low single digits. Many of the enthusiasts online are potential 2nd, 3rd, 4th owners of these cars and that only works if they can find a 1st owner to buy it.

I think that speaks more to the lack of enthusiast interest in current BMW models, where people prefer to purchase older, better models.

At its peak (pre-crossover/SUV boom) I think BMW sold 75-80k 3-series family in the US, all body styles (going off memory here, might be off a little). Sedans easily 60% of that based on my estimate, ballpark guess of 20%-ish coupes, let’s call it 15% convertible and 5% wagon (that’s probably generous). 3/4-series market has been on decline for past decade as buyers migrate to X3. It’s just hard to make a business case for another wagon variant for what would have resulted in maybe an extra 1000 units per year. The “1000 units a year” business case makes more sense on an exclusive and high $$$$ model like an Alpina 7 or M760.

Over at the 'fest there was someone (I forget who) who posted quarterly sales breakdowns by exact model.

And BMW seems to have no qualms about extremely limited editions to flush out any remaining "on the fence" buyers when a model is about to go out of production. Wasn't the E46 ZHP the last "mass market" performance edition?