OPPapers.com

Bmw

1. Assess BMW's position in the North American market? How healthy is the BMW brand relative to previous years? What are the weaknesses in the BMW brand? What is the growth strategy for BMW in the North American market?
BMW is a relatively small company, and had small market share in the North American market, compared that in the Europe market. BMW runs in the premium category, luxury/performance segment, and focuses on quality, instead of volume.
In North America, people considered BMW as a niche foreign car manufacturer, and associated it with Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Cadillac, which convey more conservative and stodgier image, before mid-1970s. However, after BMW launch "Ultimate Driving Machine" campaign, which featured young urban professional driving BMW, and showed the high performance of the BMW along with superb handling and German engineering. This whole new campaign started to catch the eyes of young urban professionals, pursuing design, style, and affluent in North America.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, BMW sale suffered a significant decline due to its new competition, luxury brands from Japan. These new coming brands distinguish themselves by offering high quality, reliability and service at lower price points than BMW. Besides, they sell cars through a relatively small number of exclusive, high quality dealerships, providing better service, and ensuring customers' satisfaction.
In order to keep its lost market share, BMW started several new strategies. It introduced new design, engine in its core Series with premium price for retaining its high-end brand image. In addition, BMW reconceptualized its dealer operating system (DOS) to ensure consistency in the customer experience across dealerships with high satisfaction. Furthermore, BMW innovate new several Series, roadster, sports utility vehicle, for driving and reaching different needs of more extensive customers. In order to better satisfy North American market specifically, BMW...