That's a nice lookin ute you know
I'm afraid that's the trend these days. Volkswagen wants to make itself a luxury/prestige marque and as a result, it has flooded the market with the Passat W8, a limousine rival for the S-Class and the W12 supercar. VW should know better...they are suppose to make affordable yet desirable cars, not expensive wannabes.
The Cayanne is a mistake, I must admit. I agree totally that every manufacturer should stick to their core responsibilities. The Fords, Toyotas and VW's are suppose to make affordable cars while the BMW's, Lexus' and Cadillacs are supposed to make prestige driving machines. But having said that...the ute might not be a success. I think many should know by now that no current BMW vehicles are not cheap or of "good value". People who buy utes need it for hard physical labour and wouldn't want to waste money on a "prestige ute" that they can't bear to get dirt on.
And what about that hideous Compact? Talk about bland! BMW only created the hatchback to mainly rival the VW Golf and Ford Focus and Honda Civic. But I can surely speak for many when I say that people would opt for a VW Golf not only because it looks better, but also its cheaper and better value than the Bimmer. Only the badge conscious and the really wealthy people would fork over tens of thousands of US$ for such an ugly duckling.