RICHBOY

I'm willing to bet between the A/S5 and the new C-Class 3-Series sales won't be to the level of previous years. I'm sensing a rough time for BMW in this segment. I know of five 3-Series owners who will be trading in their cars for either a S5 or a C-class, and 2 of them are hardcore Bimmer fans! I'm not saying that the C-Class or A/S5 are going to topple the 3-Series but sales will most certainly suffer!

shonguiz

that's normal, what's new here ?

EnI

Yeah, just like everybody predicted apocalyptic drop in 3er sales when new Lexus IS was introduce, or later when new Infiniti G was introduced.

I can predict some migration going on yet not is such massive numbers as somebody like to speculate.

3er is the benchmark in the segment - it can't be so easily defeated. Just like eg. MB S-class in its segment.

E90 3er is already best selling 3er ever! It entered in a 3rd year of its lifecycle, so some drop in production / sales is normal - especially just before the LCI.

Just_me

when a new car is introduced it often steal sales, at least temporary. So nothing unusual if it happens.

RICHBOY

I didn't expect the IS or the G35 to affect the 3-Series sales as others did. Maybe because I'm not overly impressed with them, but the new C-Class and A/S5 are to amazing vehicles inside and out imho. The previous C-Class looked to elegant to appeal to sports car enthusiast, but that's not the case now is it? Audi's S5 will certainly draw a signifigant amount of 3-Series drivers away from BMW and into Audi's. Of course you and I don't know how it's gonna play out, so etc.... I'm only speaking from what I know from the people in my circle.

EnI

Mind that top-end models like S5 are low-volume sellers, also wearing significantly higher price. I don't expect S5 will still too much sales from 335i coupe. While M3 will be in completely different league - performance & price wise.

Regarding 335i & C350 Sport: they do not represent majority of 3er / C-class sales. The majority of sales comes from entry models: 328i & C280. And here I do not expect many migration.

But ... of course there will be some migration. It would be abnormal if there were no migration at all. Yet I'm sure the numbers will be insignificant.

RICHBOY

Only time will tell!

RICHBOY

S5 vs 335i test in Greece
Greek magazine 4wheels ( the biggest) this month compares these cars.S5 is the winner of the test.
Performance:S5 335i
0-60km/h 2,5 2,8 secs
0-100 5,3 (85,1m) 5,5 (89,7m)
0-160 12,2 12,6
0-400m 13,5/168 km/h 13,8/168 km/h
0-1000m 24,5/218 km/h 24,9/217 km/h
Brakes:120km/h-0
53,3m 55,4m

S5 dominates the 335i at high speeds as well as low!

Tycoon

:

Merc1

I don't see how this is a surprise (the speed part) since the S5 is running a more powerful V8.

M