the M brand is gutted and dying.... does anybody from BMW care?
Who's going to spend $90,000++ for the next M5? Executives, that's who, the types who are greying, balding, and generally scared to drive them anywhere near the limits of grip.
Where is the next inexpensive, light, fast, RELIABLE M-car to compete with the Cayman and Evora? Certainly not the 1M with the demonstrably unreliable N54. Certainly not the z4 "i-s-drive-blah-blah-blah" with the awful electric steering, heavy metal top and dubious handling. Certainly not the nearly-eighty-thousand-dollar "midrange" M3.
WHY is the M division wasting its time and resources TUNING SUVs for christs sake, while 'the ultimate driving machine' gets fat, slow and ugly? For Profit ?? Mercedes, Lotus and even Ford are eating your lunch, BMW. Wake the heck up and resume building light, fast, great handling cars, or lose the enthusiast market entirely. Porsche, Lotus and other marques do remember how to build SPORTSCARS, not overpriced, fragile, turbocharged sedans with seven computers and NO manual transmissions. WHERE is the actual MOTORSPORT these days BMW? Remember your heritage?
Will someone at BMW grab the wheel and keep the company out of the ditch of mediocrity-- please? Or are you just ceding the sportscar market wholsale to Porsche and Lotus in order to build profitable planetkiller SUVs for aging baby boomers? Are we forced to by from Schnitzer or Alpina to get a BMW that acutally drives the way an M-car ought?