Bmw Automobile

In the go-go 1980s, owning a Mercedes-Benz or BMW was the height of fashion for the conspicuous-consumption crowd. Then came the stock market crash, the luxury tax, a recession and, most important, Japanese rivals. First Honda with its Acura luxury line, and then Toyota with Lexus and Nissan with Infiniti introduced a new level of quality, value and customer pampering to American shores.

BMW of North America Inc. said Thursday that it will cut prices on some 1990 models by nearly 9% and improve its distribution system in an effort to raise annual U.S. sales from about 68,000 cars this year to 85,000 cars by the mid-1990s. Karl Gerlinger, BMW North America's recently appointed president, said the new pricing reflects a fundamental change in the U.S. luxury car market that has shrunk from 1.4 million cars in 1986 to just over 1 million units this year.

I do not bring a lot of sympathy to any BMW. I think the cars are a bit overpriced and, because of how the option packages are structured, getting your Bimmer kitted to your liking can add thousands more. Steam gently wafts from my ears every time I use the company's iDrive system -- the magic knob interface for the navigation, audio, communications and climate menus. BMW's recent "flame surfacing" styling exertions, on cars such as the Z4 and 5-series, leave me colder than the 10th planet.

Finally, the answer to every guilt-ridden driver's dream of a car that is swift and showy, yet as environmentally correct as walking. So why isn't anyone buying? When BMW rolled out 15 sleek silver hydrogen-powered sedans here last week to promote their rather limited market debut next month at the Expo 2000 world's fair in Hanover, the move was more to provoke the leftist government here into investing in alternative-fuel development than to catch competitors off guard.

BMW recalled 20,500 more of its 1999-model 323i and 328i sedans because side air bags may inflate unexpectedly and cause head injuries, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The air bags might deploy if the car hits a large pothole or is struck with force that wouldn't cause significant damage, according to the government agency. "A small number of minor abrasions and bruises" have been reported as a result of unexpected deployments, a BMW spokesman said.

Most people think of Munich as the home of BMW, but when it comes to the fine art of discerning American car buyers' tastes, BMW looks to Newbury Park for answers. That's the home of Designworks/USA, which for seven years has been helping BMW come up with high-tech seat designs, color patterns, new textures and other features that the German auto maker hopes will lure buyers to BMW and away from competitors.

BEFORE you even start, no, you can't have it. The BMW 330d -- powered by a hugely entertaining 3.0-liter twin-turbo-diesel that gets about 40-plus miles per gallon -- isn't sold in the United States. But it could be, with a little grass-roots support. And that's why Honeywell Turbo Technologies -- the supplier of the variable-vane turbos BMW uses in its diesels -- dropped off one of its engineering mules at the L.A. Times garage. A little marketing never hurt anyone.

Protests about the environmental and safety records of sport utility vehicles don't seem to be doing much to dissuade automakers from thinking that there's still a lot of life left in the SUV market. Major automakers including Ford, Volkswagen, Chrysler, Nissan, Hyundai and Honda all are planning to introduce new SUV models in the next few years. Up soonest, though, is one from BMW, the X3, a "baby Bimmer" version of the company's successful X5 line of mid-size luxury SUVs.