After 40 years, BMW's 3 series rules a tougher league
Changing market pose serious challenges
6 generations of BMW 3s
BMW's
3 series was "the first modern sports sedan," according to Florian
Moser, head of BMW Group Classic. A history of the 3 series:
GEN 1
• Global sales: 1,364,039
• Production: 1975-82
• 3-series 2-door sedan debuts with 4-cylinder inline engine; adds 6-cylinder engine in 1977
GEN 2
• Global sales: 2,339,251
• Production: 1982-94
• 4-door sedan, awd 325ix and station wagon added; M3 high-performance model debuts in 1986
GEN 3
• Global sales: 2,745,780
• Production: 1990-2000
• True coupe added; becomes basis for first BMW-produced convertible*
• Shortened 3-series 3-door launched in the U.S. in 1995 as 318ti; discontinued in 2000
GEN 4
• Global sales: 3,266,885
• Production: 1998-2007
•
3 series gains features from the 7 series: instrument panel, side
airbags in rear, navigation. Extensive use of aluminum and high-strength
steel.
GEN 5
• Global sales: 3,102,345
• Production: 2005-13
•
Upgrade in engine technology with a 3.0-liter, inline 6-cylinder engine
with TwinPower turbo. 4-cylinder models feature brake energy generation
and stop-start.
GEN 6
• Global sales: 1,756,000**
• Production: 2012-present
•
BMW splits nomenclature: 4-door remains 3 series; 5-door is GT; 2-door
convertible and coupe are 4 series; 4-door with coupelike styling is
Gran Turismo.
Source: BMW
*Factory-authorized convertibles by Baur, a German coachbuilder, were offered earlier
**Through September 2015; includes 4 series
Automotive News
November 30, 2015 - 12:01 am ET
In 1975, BMW introduced the 3 series, a sporty sedan that became synonymous with the brand's performance image.
Forty
years later, despite intensifying competition and changing customer
tastes, the 3 series still dominates its segment. Competitors openly
benchmark the 3 series and target it in their advertising. Buff books
lavish it with praise. Dealers love the repeat business.
In many
ways, the 3 series is BMW, the brand with the enviable mystique built on
German engineering and uncompromised performance.
But the
competition is coming on strong; some experts say the Mercedes-Benz C
class and Cadillac ATS are already on par with the 3 series when it
comes to technology and performance. The next-generation Audi A4 due
next year could be another tough rival.
The question is whether
BMW can maintain the 3 series' performance aura in a market demanding
more luxury, connectivity, semiautonomous driving technology and
increased fuel economy.
BMW can't afford not to.
The 3
series accounts for about 25 percent of BMW sales worldwide, the
automaker says. In the United States, 501,569 luxury compact cars were
sold last year, and the 3 series (and its spinoff 4 series) accounted
for nearly 28 percent of those sales -- a percentage BMW has maintained
seven out of the last 10 years.
Dealers testify to the nameplate's market strength.
"I've
had repeat buyers over and over again. Over the years, the 3 series has
evolved, and the technology has evolved, but they have not rested on
their laurels," says Joe Laham, owner of BMW of Cape Cod in
Massachusetts.
Laham, who sells 10 other brands including Audi and Volvo, says rivals have a hard time conquesting 3-series buyers.
"Everybody has tried to benchmark it," he says. "I do value my partners, but it is tough to compete with the legend."
Lutz: At the creation
The legend has been decades in the making. Fabled executive Bob Lutz
joined BMW in 1971 as the board member for global sales and marketing
and helped create that aura.
Lutz was there when the 3 series was launched and when BMW's tag line
"Aus Freuden am Fahren" ("For the Joy of Driving") became "The Ultimate Driving Machine."
"We
blessed it as conveying exactly the right blend of superiority and
excellence," Lutz says. "It was the BMW promise that nobody else could
make."
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Lutz: 'Well-earned' image
|
In the last five years, mechanically and with performance, other cars
have caught up to the 3 series, he says: "What hasn't disappeared is
the reputation and the brand image. It is not totally reflected by
reality, but it was well-earned in a 35-year history producing good and
desirable cars."
It's an enviable position, admits Johan de
Nysschen, president of Cadillac, a brand that wants to dethrone the 3
series. BMW's mystique is the result of "many generations of
consistency," one that Cadillac is seeking to emulate, he adds.
De
Nysschen believes General Motors' brand can compete, but the perception
of Cadillac as a true player will come with "consistent execution. We
will see a change in five years."
"My former employer Audi are
respected today. They did not get there overnight; it has taken them 20
to 25 years, and our journey will not be that long."
But he
concedes it is hard to dislodge an image as strong as the 3 series':
"They have embodied that in their product and developed this intangible
aura and an appeal that has much intangible value. People imagine the
car is much greater than it is."
There is some support for de Nysschen's opinion.
Although
the 3 series has reached "that pinnacle level and has maintained it,"
says Stephanie Brinley, an analyst with IHS Automotive in Detroit, "I am
not sure that BMW has progressively improved the 3 series as much as
others have improved their cars."
'Driver focus'
Other experts say competitors still are far from matching the 3
series' "driver focus," as Tim Urquhart, an analyst with IHS in London,
puts it. "It consistently beats its rivals on that."
Jean Jennings, editor of
jeanknowscars.com and former editor of
Automobile magazine, figures there are "at least a half-dozen competitors" vying for the 3 series' crown. Yet the 3 won an
Automobile All-Star award 29 years in a row -- more than any other car, Jennings says.
She'd
place odds on Mercedes-Benz and Audi coming close in sales. "If Porsche
decided to make a four-door sedan in that size, it would probably wipe
it up," Jennings adds.
BMW says it has sold 14.6 million 3-series
models (including the 4 series coupe and convertible spun off from the 3
series) worldwide since the car went on sale in 1975. Of those, more
than 11 million were sedans or station wagons.
Stephan Kessel,
BMW AG's head of production management for the 3 and 4 series, says that
track record makes the 3 series "the heart of the brand. Most of the
values that BMW stands for are in the 3 series. It is an ambassador."
The
3 series has added significance in the U.S.: BMW of North America was
founded 40 years ago when the brand took over the sales and distribution
of its vehicles from independent distributors.
 |
Sattig: Dynamic driving feeling
|
"When we decided to open our own division in the U.S., that was at
the same time that BMW released the most important car as a company,"
says Manuel Sattig, head of brand strategy in the United States.
The
3 series is the epitome of BMW's marketing as the ultimate driving
machine "because it is related to that feeling when you shift the gears
and that direct response of using the gas pedal -- it gives you that
dynamic driving feeling," Sattig says.
Even
Consumer Reports sings the 3 series' praises.
Jake
Fisher, the magazine's director of auto testing, says: "It has for a
very long time been The One. This is the small, fun-to-drive, luxurious
vehicle, and it hasn't had a lot of competition for quite a while."
Lutz says a key to the success of the 3 series is that "it was always superbly engineered."
"It
was engineered up to a desirable level as opposed to engineered down to
a specific cost," he says. "People expected to pay more."
"That
is where the slogan came from. The focus in marketing and the car was on
vehicle dynamics, good brakes, sharp handling and good engine sound --
all of the things that provide gratification to the driver."
Urquhart of IHS says the competition has intensified in the last two decades, "but the 3 series is still the benchmark."
With
the redesigned C class launched last fall, the Mercedes-Benz sedan "is
beginning to close that gap" because of its "premium quality and
equipment, and it is a far improved drive over its predecessor," he
says.
Mercedes-Benz continues to maintain a price premium over
the 3 series with the C class. The C300 starts at $39,325, compared with
$34,145 for BMW's entry 320i. Both prices include shipping.
Heiko
Schmidt, product manager for the C class at Mercedes-Benz USA, says:
"We have come a long way in the last two generations. We closed the gap
with the 3 series when you benchmark to powertrain, fit and finish and
especially inside with quality."
In the coming year, the C class
will get a coupe and convertible designed from the ground up,
derivatives that Heiko says finally will put Mercedes on a more level
playing field with the 3 series.
2 is the new 3?
Consumer Reports' Fisher says the 3 series isn't the most
highly rated car: "In terms of reliability, safety and luxury, there are
better cars." He accuses BMW of going "a bit mainstream and backing off
that fun-to-drive factor" to appeal to the market's seemingly
insatiable demand for plush interiors and entertaining electronics.
For
instance, the freshened 2016 3 series boasts an optional color head-up
display, parallel and perpendicular parking assist, a navigation system
with 3-D visualization in cities and over-the-air maps.
The smaller, less fussy 2-series coupe is what the 3 series used to be, Fisher says.
"The
new BMW 3 series is a BMW 2 series -- the 235i is the most classic," he
said. "It is fun to drive, luxurious and can hold its own with the
luxury and livability."
In Lutz's view, the 3 series faces
another challenge. He figures that in the next five years, sporty
compacts will matter less as the market continues to shift to compact
crossovers: "More and more, worldwide customers are abandoning sedans.
If the current trend continues, they will be very rare in five years."
Laham,
the Cape Cod dealer, admits some of his former 3-series customers now
own the BMW X3 or X1 compact crossovers: "If they don't buy another 3,
they buy a variation -- an X3 or an X1." But, he adds, "all of that
technology has come off the 3 series."
Lutz says that even with
changing consumer tastes and advancing competitors, the 3 leads the
pack. "BMW will devote all the technology and marketing to make sure the
3 series remains premium," Lutz says. "In real terms, if it was a 9.2,
most others are an 8.5 or a 7.5."
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