BMW 1-Series Not Coming
BMW's plans to bring its new entry-level 1-series model to North America soon seem to be in jeopardy, at least for the foreseeable future.
Executives at the Munich-based firm are now saying that the 1-series probably won't get to the U.S. before 2007, if then.
Kevin Marcotte of BMW Canada says the Whitby-based distributor is ''currently investigating 1-series options for the Canadian market. No decision has been made yet for Canada.''
Marcotte did point out that the Canadian ''product portfolio is not tied to U.S. offering -- think of the 320i, for example.'' This suggests that it's possible that the decision about product for Canada may not be directly related to what happens south of the border.
Observers in Canada, the U.S. and Germany are laying blame for the situation primarily at the rate of exchange between the Euro and both of the dollars, which has tilted considerable since the decision to build the 1-series was made a few years ago.
While it would have been possible to make a profit selling a German-built BMW for less than $30,000 in 2000 or 2001, it's certainly not possible in 2004, and the exchange situation shows no signs of reversing itself. The company is hedged against such an exchange situation, but that ends at the end of 2005, when the 1-Series was expected to arrive.
On top of that, BMW had been thinking of a 1-series hatchback as the first model for the U.S., but that body style doesn't work with the Yanks, as the coupe version of the Mercedes-Benz C-class has proven beyond a doubt.
There is also some question about the Americans warming to a car from a ''premium'' car company being that small (the hatchback's about 240 cm shorter than the 3-series it's based on) and inexpensive.
But such a car might work in Canada, since consumers here have been more accepting of the C-class coupe, hatchbacks, and entry-level ''premium'' models. The success of a pair of Canada-only models from Mercedes and Acura -- the C-class Classic and the EL, respectively -- make that last case quite strongly.