BMW won't turn its back on sedans
Despite selling more SUVs than sedans, German car-maker says it's not ready to retire the humble four-doorBMW will not transition to an SUV brand despite crossovers and 4x4s now accounting for the majority of its sales.
Despite almost 60 per cent of global BMW sales being SUVs in 2019, chief designer Domagoj Dukec says he isn't ready to give up on the traditional three-box sedan for high-riding vehicles.
Speaking to
, the Bavarian car-maker's design boss said the upward trend to SUVs in the US and their growing popularity in Europe had virtually peaked. He believes the sedan-SUV split for BMW should remain stable.
"The 40-60 or 50-50 [sedan-SUV] split will remain, so yes, sedans will stay relevant," he told the US outlet.
Perhaps more relevant to the business case of traditional sedans is their remaining popularity in China, with Dukec admitting that Chinese buyers still like "riding low".
That said, for their future to be assured, Dukec thinks that sedans will still have to evolve.
"There also has to be a certain modernisation, or evolution, of the body style. It can't just be the classic three-box [silhouette]," he said.
"We see that, in China, they're asking for more elegance, maybe something like a two-and-a-half-box. This is something we are looking at," Dukec added, hinting that cars like the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupes could continue to point towards the future of the sedan.
Dukec's remarks come after the BMW 3 Series secured the 2019 carsales Car of the Year award, beating a host of SUVs.
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