745i Makeover Sure to Appeal to Women...and now...

[MDabney]

you know the rest of the story. This was published in my local paper today, interesting take on design considerations. Please don't shoot the messenger... :) Excerpt as follows...

"The 2002 BMW 7-Series, now arriving in showrooms, is a luxury car that will appeal to women on many levels. Thomas Jefferson, product manager for the 2002 7-Series, said the company’s new 745i and 745Li designs include considerable thought about what women want in a high-end car. “Women, in general, are key influencers (in car purchases)”, he said. And BMW, whose U.S. subsidiary is in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, is taking notice. Jefferson admitted that the Lexus LS and Mercedes-Benz S-Class large luxury sedans have attracted more women as a percentage of buyers that has BMW’s flagship 7-Series. Specifically, only 18 percent of recent 7-Series buyers were women, while 23 percent of S-Class and 30 percent of LS buyers were women, according to BMW statistics. Considering these are women who are buying cars priced more than $55,000, - and they are a group whose number is expected to grow – you can understand why BMW is pursuing them."

(Read entire article below...)

Rest of above Article... (http://home.att.net/~mdabney/BMW_745i.htm)

[mikey]

I didn't read the entire article.

The following observation is not based on statistical evidence, and even if it was, there are always exceptions, if not a significant minority. In other words, there are women that prefer BMW's.

My observation is that women are more interested in comfort and convenience than performance and handling. Self made women that drive Mercedes, have told me that men like BMW's because they all want to be race car drivers.

Mercedes has been trying to attract men from the market that BMW dominates. They have been trying to change their image to sporty and adventurous. The average age of a Mercedes owner is 10 years older than the average BMW owner. (I have seen posts here that say the same thing about 7 series owners as compared to the average BMW owner, and they are right.)

If BMW wants to be like Mercedes and Mercedes wants to be like BMW, in the end, there will only be one.

mikey
:atom

[Anfanger]

Well BMW has succeeded... I'm sure more women will be attracted to the Solara... I mean 745i :rolleyes: . However, I am NOT attracted to it, or any new BMW for that matter.

I really hope BMW AG burns to the ground, with all their current and future designs, so they will have to return back to making the E30, E36, E34, E39, E38 and the likes.

[evlgt85]

The lame-ification of cool cars all in the name of catching a bigger share of the female market makes me have even more disdain for the majority of those that share my gender. The reason that BMWs appeal to me is that they are fantastically styled (or were....we'll see if the new 7 series really does have an impact on the rest of the line) cars that offer balanced performance. Power and handling (someday, I'll have a car that handles, I swear) are incredibly important to me.

If BMW continues to "soften" their cars like so many others have already done, then I'll keep to my current mindset that I'll never bother with purchasing a brand new car. No big deal to me, really, as my dream BMW is an Avus Blue 95 M3.

[oldM3r]

and my first impression was OH MY GOD HOW BUTT UGLY IS THAT!!!!!!:confused: