1 series - discontinuation?

[bman6074]

I thought i read somewhere on here that BMW allotted 10K cars to be sold for the 08's and actually surpassed that by 20%. Ended up selling 12K and change in cars. With that said I would be surprised if they discontinued it.

[bmwzone]

Correct 10k units was their goal for 2008 - They beat that by 20%:

128i Coupe 2,897
128i Conve 3,755
135i Coupe 3,279
135i Conve 2,087
1 Series 12,018

[Mad Dragon]

Originally Posted by mikestanton

And what is this model:



Can I find this in the USA? I kinda like the uniqueness of its design. It's totally awesome so to speak.

Looks like an E46 compact.

[JB135i]

Originally Posted by imported_mega

if they wanted to bring in a lot of new bmw owners, they would have priced it as an entry level car, but they definitely did NOT do that with the 128i

They conceived a car, engineered it, built it and now are pricing it too high because they don't want too many pesky new owners?

What I think happened is this. They conceived it as what it should have been, a lightweight sports car with a couple of extra seats. What ended up on dealers lots is an over-teched, overly complicated, over weight marketing department driven car with so much feature creep they COULDN'T sell it for cheaper. What the marketing department failed to forsee was the direct comparisions that would be made to their own product. They looked outward to be sure. The 1 series does in fact compare well to it's natural foes, the STi, the EVO, used Caymans (S's) and at the time 350Z's and the Audi TT.

But for perceived value, the 3 series is the winner for a person who really wants a BMW.

And then SUNDAY, I mean Hyundai (Genesis Coupe) happened, the 370Z happened, the TT gained some juice (still not enough) and of course the 3 series comparisons continue. All these factors are keeping sales of the 1 series low.

12,000 cars spead across 4 models is nothing to brag about. Especially considering the hype in the press for the 1 series, notably the 135i coupe. Most press outlets virtually pimped the vehicle and yet...low sales.

If they took out the gizmo's and a couple hundred pounds of bling, and added an LSD even as an option and sorted out their issues (if true) with Dinan or ramped up their own in-house tuner bits they would have an unstopple car line IMO.

But instead the car will always have poor sales and a limited customer base. Limited is NOT good either, limited demand = lower resale prices and a car line that will be on life support until it's finally killed. It may sound cool to have a car that you rarely see, and that can be a trueism for a 911 turbo or a Lambo, but for a 36-50K car it's a lingering death.