Posted on Tuesday 18 March 2008
Since the release of its official strategy back in September, media sources around the world have been speculating that BMW is looking at either launching its own new brand or acquiring one to help its expansion. CEO Norbert Reithofer has now revealed that BMW is establishing a new environmental think-tank dubbed ‘Project i’, whose task it is to develop a number of solutions for a vehicle designed for congested city motoring.
Project i will run independently to BMW and has been given until the middle of the next decade to develop a concrete solution for the city car. “The task of the Project i team is to present specific solutions in the first half of the next decade. Whether this will require a fourth brand or not, will be decided at a later date,” Reithofer told reporters from Auto Motor und Sport.
Reithofer explained that no final decision had been made as to what powertrain the new vehicle will use. “This is why we have decided to focus on a wide range of technological options,” he said. “An electric motor is an option we are looking into. It does not only work at zero-emission level. The technology is now sophisticated enough to offer driving pleasure.”
By the end of this year, Reithofer confirmed that a decision will be made on the drive system and that the decision for a new brand will only be made once the initial designs for the new vehicle is complete.
Why don’t they simply build the small cars and for that matter green cars under the Mini brand? The current Mini models are branded Cooper and Clubman, so a Smart competitor could be the Mini Iseta, etc. The dealer network exists and the brand has an identity.
BMW can also plumb all the old British Leyland trademarks that they still own.
“Project i”seta
intresting
BMW has said that they don’t want to further dilute the MINI brand, personally i think it’s the correct move, i think MINI will continue to sell well if it seen as a niche vehicle, not mainstream one
Alan, true enough, but if BMW decides to build a 4th brand there are huge costs involved in that (see GM) and if BMW were to continue with their current mindset regarding dealers, they’ll insist that the new brand be in separate stores. Adding a couple of well executed models will not dilute the Mini brand, it could even strengthen it.