According to Automotive News, BMW of North America has been disappointed by the sales of the five Series Gran Turismo. Introduced last year as a replacement for the new v Series Wagon, the 5 GT has been one of the most criticized products in the past years.

With a design idea starting from within the vehicle, the outside was a combination betwixt a crossover, like the X6, and a sports wagon. Based on initial studies conducted by BMW, the results showed that the 5 Series GT is a vehicle highly-seasoned to those that are looking for luxury, infinite and functioning, but are not willing to spend money on a full vii Series nor any SAV models. Adrian van Hooydonk confirmed that the report revealed an aging customer base who find the traditional seating position of the BMW five Series Sedan too sporty, merely at the same time consider the elevated seating in the X5 or X6 too high.

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The idea seem to accept backfired. According to BMW of Due north America CEO Jim O'Donnell, the sales of the 5 GT in the U.S. have been lower than expected, and even more interesting, the 5 GT has stolen customers from the vii Series family. O'Donnell said he expected the automobile to attract 5 Series Wagon buyers instead.

Furthermore, some of the five Series Carriage customers went with a competitor car from Mercedes-Benz.

"The disappointment I accept is that I thought a lot of our 5-series station wagon customers would go with the GT," O'Donnell says. "In indicate of fact, that is not happening. Nosotros accept lost those customers to the competition — mainly to Mercedes-Benz.

"The GT has attracted vii- and v-series customers and conquests," he says, "but not the station carriage customer we had hoped."

In Florida, 10 percent of BMW vii-series owners have replaced their cars with the 5-series GT, O'Donnell says.

US pricing for the 550i GT starts at $65,275, while the 740i sells for $71,525.

Auto News reports that BMW executives sales forecast for the five GT was 4,000 to 8,000 units annually. BMW sold 2,848 GTs in 2010 and merely 720 in the first four months of 2011. Sales of the five-series wagon peaked at 2,351 units in 2005.

For the enthusiasts, these might exist skilful news. O'Donnell says he doesn't want to lose wagon sales to Mercedes-Benz and then BMW volition go on the 3 Series railroad vehicle in its lineup. Past rumors said the new 3 Series Wagon will be replaced by a 3 Serial Gran Turismo, a hypothesis that seem unlikely now.

"We are not giving upwardly the 3-series wagon because if you give it up, they will get straight to the competition," he says.

Every bit for bringing back the v Series Carriage, O'Donnell says information technology may be also late for this generation.

[Source: Automotive News ]