BMW Answers Question Most People Would Never Think to Ask
BMW AG was forced to deny a report that no one had previously considered serious yesterday, after a newspaper reported that it had plans for a pickup version of its popular X5 sport utility in the works.
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| Although it was only a rumor that most didn't take too seriously, BMW was forced to make an announcement that there will be no X5 based pickup truck planned. |
"There are no such plans," a spokeswoman said, stating that the report in Sunday's Bild am Sonntag as "pure speculation."
The weekend report said that BMW's management was thinking about lengthening its X5 SUV and notching a pickup truck bed into the design, as part of its future product offensive targeting the North American market. The new model would be built in its Spartanburg, South Carolina production facility.
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| Even though in some ways BMW pickup version of the current X5 (shown) would make sense in the North American market, BMW doesn't particularly need a truck to boost sales and, more importantly, could tarnish its performance-oriented brand image if it chose to build one. (Photo: BMW Canada) |
With the North American market becoming increasingly more important to BMW's bottom line in recent years, the possibility of a truck-like product might make sense to some executives responsible for the Munich, Germany based premium automaker.
But North American analysts are saying a pickup would degrade the brand's premium image, which could potentially interrupt its steady progress up the sales charts.
Incidentally, BMW's group vehicle sales in the U.S. quadrupled over the past 10 years to more than 277,000 cars in 2003. It's the automaker's largest market, making up more than 27 percent of total BMW Group sales.