Nice catch from BMW blog.
Buried in a Wall Street Journal story is a news nugget that BMW is considering reviving plans for a big SUV - a possible X7 - banking on the ever-expanding sales of large vehicles in China and on the hopes of an economic recovery in the United States. Those two would be the main markets for a possible X7 full-sized SUV.
Here's the quote from the Wall Street Journal story:
"So, BMW is downshifting. While it makes one big sedan especially for the Chinese market, it isn't ramping up production enough to fill all its Chinese orders. It wants to make sure it has sufficient supply for the U.S. and Germany.
The company is also counting on the U.S. to rebound more quickly than doom-and-gloomers think, making rebalancing less necessary than the leaders gathered in Seoul believe. It is even reconsidering its decision to cancel a new large SUV, which was meant mainly for U.S. buyer."
BMW canceled the X7 project during the economic crisis of 2008, which hit the automotive industry particularly hard. But now, with strong demand for large, premium vehicles in China, such as the extended-wheelbase variant of the 5-series, the X7 stands a better chance in the marketplace of the coming years.
The problem is, of course, that the economic recovery in the United States just isn't happening.
BMW is better off simply betting on the Chinese.
