BMW M Boss Surprised by Wagon Demand
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BMW M3 Touring and M5 Touring’s success has taken the division’s CEO, Frank van Meel, by surprise. While customer interest in traditional car-based wagons is waning globally in favor of SUVs, demand for these models has been robust.
"A little bit [surprised], yes," van Meel admitted when asked about the surprising popularity.
“Because over the past decades, every time we asked, ‘do you want a Touring model?’, the answer was always ‘no, we don’t want that in our market. We are an SUV market, or we are a sedan market.’"
Despite the broader shift towards SUVs, BMW currently offers two car-based wagons in performance specification: the M3 Touring and M5 Touring. Sales of these models remain strong, with 270 M3 Tourings and 53 M5 Tourings sold locally in Australia last year.
Van Meel attributes the demand not just to the practicalities of wagons, but to the performance appeal. He envisions a future expansion of high-performance Touring models.
“The Touring demand is now increasing, and we’re really happy with that. We’ll see where that leads us in the future as well.”
Concept cars hint at more practical yet powerful models from BMW, including a shooting brake variant of the Z4 roadster. The next-generation M3, due early next year, may offer a Touring option in electric guise.