Im not so sure that is 100% true. It seems that they are in their predicaments because of bad management and their relationship with the UAW.

 

^ well, whatever....but it's not b/c of the reasons stated by panty.

 

We're going around in circles here. Manufacturers (well good ones) do market research to figure out what to make. They don't just randomly put together a car and hope it does well. If that were true, believe me, the automotive engineers would only want to build a bunch of sports cars. How else do you explain Porsche , a sports car company, building an SUV ? They didn't just decide , "hey wouldn't it be cool to make a fat , lardy SUV that goes against the grain of every car we've ever made". The market was moving towards SUVs, Porsche saw the $$$$ and decided they wanted in. Same way, the market is moving towards hybrids and high mpg cars. BMW could have done more with this release of the X5.

BTW, GM and Ford are screwed not only because of subpar products but because of horrendous union deals, mismanagement and general lack of competitive response to the Japanese. They are an example of not reading market trends. They thought they could just sit on their ass and build crappy trucks and SUVs all day long and they'd be fine. Thought wrong!

 

You might want to try to actually formulate arguments instead of just saying "no thats not it."

 

i have driven quite a few bmw's and they do drive nice, i even owned a 2000 325i for a 6 month period, BUT as far as suv's go I am in love with the Infinity FX series suv's. If you're in the market for a luxo suv you have to check this one out. My ex has a burnt orange FX35, I have driven it a few times to pick her up from the airport and they drive amazing, and are pretty damn quick for an suv, they also have all the bells and whistles any bimmer would have... all at thousands less than the x5, and IMHO looks 10X better

 

Since when did a thread in Car Talk ever stay on topic

 

i did....see my previous posts.

and you agreed with me....

panty> "BTW, GM and Ford are screwed not only because of subpar products..."

 

Uh, no I didn't. Read my response again.

 

no need....thanks for stopping by.