derBayerische September/October 2021 - 26

T H E
After placing our drink orders, a
very worried looking valet and his
manager approach our table. The
manager asked if we could " have a
word, in private. " Thinking that I
would have to explain to BMW NA
how one of their new press evaluation
vehicles was damaged, the pair led
me to the valet parking area where I
noticed that the X5 had not been
moved. The manager explained to
me that neither he nor any of the
valets on duty knew how to drive a
vehicle with a manual transmission.
He further stated that if I were to be so
kind as to move the vehicle, they
would have me park in their " best
location. "
He also returned the tip that I
gave to that valet. Before re-entering
the meeting location, I located that
valet and returned my tip to him. I
told him that it took quite a bit of
courage for him to admit that he
couldn't do something and to ask his
manager for help. Further, I said that
such courage should be rewarded.
Walking back to my table, I worried
2 0 2 2
B M W X 5
that the future of manual-transmission
vehicles was fairly grim.
The first-generation X5 was the
result of a German/English marriage.
To be more precise, it was the result
of BMW purchasing the Rover Group
in 1994. The timing of this purchase
was quite interesting. Let me explain.
A major reason for the 1987
Chrysler acquisition of AMC was the
Jeep brand. It turns out that many
who owned Jeep Cherokees also
owned BMWs or Mercedes. To
capitalize on this market, Jeep introduced
the first-generation Jeep Grand
Cherokee in 1993. This purposebuilt
luxury-performance SUV
attracted the attention of both BMW
and Mercedes management. Not
only was this vehicle, in fully loaded
form, capturing BMW and Mercedes
intenders, but the extremely high
profits were a major contributor to
Chrysler's bottom line.
While Daimler had been planning
a replacement for the Mercedes
G-class SUV, the success of the Jeep
Grand Cherokee caused Daimler to
(Below) The rear passengers are treated to personal-jet-like luxury and comfort.
4 5 e
(Above) A very inviting driver's cockpit.
develop and execute a new strategy
for a near clean-sheet-of-paper
approach for their luxury performance
SUV, the ML. Launched in 1997 and
initially assembled by Magna-Steyr,
production was shifted to their new
Vance, Alabama plant in 1997.
Ironically, a year later Daimler and
Chrysler would announce their
" merger of equals " , resulting in the
Jeep Grand Cherokee and the
Mercedes ML becoming siblings
Bernd Pischetsrieder and
Wolfgang Reitzle, the then CEO and
the then President of BMW, took
BMW down a different path for their
first SUV. Based on the financial
results, the 1994 purchase by BMW
of Land Rover is regarded as a failure.
But it has proven to be a major reason
why BMW is still a vibrant and
healthy independent vehicle manufacturer.
The Range Rover and MINI
products not only provided " on the
job " training for the BMW engineers
and designers on SUV and frontwheel-drive
vehicle design and
engineering, but the lessons learned
created today's BMW modular vehicle
architecture, which has resulted in a
significant reduction in vehicle development
cost and schedule. Proof of
this success is that Toyota has turned
to BMW for help in creating their
" halo " vehicle, the Supra.
26
BMW's first venture into the SUV
market was supplying engines to the
newly-designed Range Rover II.
Approval was given to develop the
Range Rover III and approval was also
given to develop the E53 X5. Both
vehicles shared the E39 5 Series
engines and electronics systems
(thank God). Both vehicles also
shared heritage Range Rover features,
including the two-piece tailgate
design, the hill ascent electronics,
and off-road engine management
systems.
Following the unfortunate 1999
ouster of both Mr. Pischetsrieder and
Dr. Reitzle, Range Rover was sold to
Ford, who reaped the full benefit of
the 2000 launch of the very impressive
Range Rover III.
The X5 has proven to be an
image leader, a highly profitable sales
winner (averaging over annual US
sales of 45,000), and the foundation
for a full line of highly profitable Sport
Activity Vehicles. For BMW, annual
SAV sales now exceed annual car
sales.
My long term experience with
the X5 began in 2006, with the
purchase of a 2007 E70 X5 3.0.
Custom ordered from Passport BMW,
with dB's own Raine Mantysalo as our
salesman, that vehicle had over
190,000 miles before it was traded in
derBayerische
derBayerische September/October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of derBayerische September/October 2021
