Psychology suggests that most people are change averse and that only under extraordinary circumstances will people embrace change. Well, for our very own car fan, Ray Leathern, BMW’s planned shake up of their performance model designations seems to be a case in point.
If a tree falls down in the forest and nobody is a round to hear it, did it make a sound? You darn right it made a sound! Of course, the riddle of the falling tree is actually quite an interesting one if you don’t take it too literally. The riddle was first uttered by an Irish philosopher who wanted to question the power of observation, or more specifically the immaterialism of observation. His dictum of, “To be is to be perceived“, came into being and let’s be honest, how you are perceived is far more important than how you actually are.
A dictum, you could argue, that is quickly becoming gospel for motor manufacturers under pressure to produce and market newer, greener, better, cleaner more niche models that fit into our hopes and dreams for a sustainable and individualised future. The German powerhouses have been performing this name switching act for years, saying a badge means one thing and then changing what it stands for. They invent a new badge for something that’s not actually new at all, or call something by a name which it isn’t. Maybe, like Peugeot, they’re just running out of letters and numbers to name things with. Either way, it keeps us talking about niches we might have long last forgotten about.
The next generation medium-to-hot performance models from BMW will lose their ‘is’ badges and instead they will make use of an M Performance logo. This new M Performance range has, until now, existed as ‘is’ (e.g. the 335is Convertible), essentially forming a sub-brand of the ‘M’ range (think M3 and M5) and occupying what is a barely recognisable space above the M Sport styling models (think 320i M Sport or 535d M Sport). It was always a complicated arrangement, but this move back to ‘M’ is meant to simplify things. It’s still some way off for the South Africa market, but as an example, the US-market 335is will in future be called the M335i and the current Z4 sDrive35is would be relabelled the Z4 M35i.
If that wasn’t enough name changing for one go, BMW is also expected to debut new 2 Series and 4 Series models. These are models which will differentiate the coupes from four-door bodies in the 1 Series and 3 Series ranges respectively. So the 1 Series Coupé could now be a 2 Series and a 3 Series Coupé could be a 4 Series. Then we can expect M235i and M435i models to follow in each of those model lines to join the existing M135i hatchback.
Got it? Me neither, but with a continuously bulging product portfolio, don’t be surprised if BMW introduces further model designation changes in future.
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