In the ingloriously named, “small premium car segment”, the BMW 3-Series is king. A good all-rounder with sporting pretensions and cred, a nice assortment of engine and equipment options, and perhaps most importantly, a variety of body styles including a coupe and station wagon derivative that have ensured its market supremacy.
All 3-Series models are doing their bit to keep sales high. According to a study released by R.L. Polk & Co., from 2008 through this past February, the 3-Series sedan covered around 60 percent of the model’s retail registrations, with the coupe, convertible and station wagon versions accounting for the rest of the sales.
Unfortunately for the Bavarian automaker, the queen (Audi), prince (Mercedes-Benz), princess (Lexus) and duke (Cadillac) have not been sitting on their laurels.
There’s a coupe and station wagon variant of the Cadillac’s meaty CTS sedan, while Audi has added the weirdly named A5 Sportback and A5 / S5 coupe to compliment the A4 range. Even Lexus has a folding hardtop IS convertible and Mercedes-Benz will soon bring the C-Class coupe to market. So without the body style thing to fall back on, there’s not a whole lot to differentiate – say – a BMW 3-Series from an Audi A4 / A5 except for personal driving preferences and brand identity.
However, at least for now, the 3-Series is retaining its place as America’s (and indeed, the world’s) favorite small premium car. This in spite of strong competition, changing tastes in the market and the slump in the premium segment following the GFC.
By Tristan Hankins
Source / Data: Polk
