BMW plans to radically shrink the choice buyers have on everything from a car’s colour to its wheel rims, as the shift to electric vehicles forces the German group to cut costs and complexity.
Not surprising. There is a great book “the paradox of choice” by Barry Schwartz. The idea is the more choices you give people, the less satisfied they are.
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Good. They can start with the X4 and X6. 
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My main gripe with the automotive world is that everything is being built on the same platform with shared equipment and more cross-brand applications. Very few cars in the next 10 years will be truly unique or built on their own platform. The industry is turning into do you want this in sedan or SUV form with the small, medium, or large battery/engine. Seems to be the route BMW is taking with limiting options and partnering with Toyota. I was debating getting a G82 when my F82 lease expires, but if the S58 engine and BMW tech will be in a Toyota, then I am not interested.
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Consultants ruin everything.
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But something tells me they’ll reduce more 2/3/4/5-series variants which are a lot closer to BMW heritage than BMW’s version of a Pontiac Aztek.
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Ain’t that the truth!
BMW also wants to reduce customer options with the cars people already own 
Out of curiosity I have checked buy out offers on my M235 and, surprise surprise, the offers from the BMW dealers (who are the only ones who can actually buy out a lease), are 10% lower than any other third-party Coincidence I suspect, LOL.
Wasn’t bmw, a couple of years ago, the brand that forced customers to purchase subscription/packages to have certain features enabled?
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Leasing a BMW IS a subscription.
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How it that relevant to your choice? If BMW makes a car you like why do you care that they sell tech to Toyota. That’s like saying I’m not buying a Samsung phone since they sell chips to Apple. In the tech industry this has been the norm forever. The dirty big open secret in tech is everyone are competitors and partners. I work in tech and I will be competing with Microsoft on one deal on an account and then then partnering with them on the same account on another deal. Everyone benefits from this arrangement.
This will become more commonplace in the auto industry as well.
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I can’t access the article but I have to wonder how much impact dealers have on the popularity of certain packages, wheels, colors etc given the majority of sales are coming from what they buy and put on the lot. Tesla and Volvo come to mind as having very simple options when it comes to things like that and consumers at large don’t seem to be clamoring for more variety.
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That was the idea that BMW was researching last year:
Basically 2-3 Hardware models for each car- like Audi- meaning physically they look a certain way- Low, Mid, Loaded.
And then many software options for each car- The cars will be equipped with the hardware, but you won’t be able to use heated seats, or heads up display or Professional Driving Assist Packages- unless you pay for the subscriptions each month.
So the base lease is $XXX/month for non-optioned car, then $20-300/month for options- heated seats, heads up… and the rest… Based on what you want.
Not the worst idea depending on the prices they would charge…I can see myself paying for heated seats in the winter and cancelling that subscription in the summer
Because it doesn’t make the M series special anymore if it can be found elsewhere for less in a lower quality package.
They should start by hiring a new head designer. All of their new cars besides non-M 3 series, 5 series, X5 and X7 are hideous. Then they can get rid of the M235i abomination and get back to building appealing cars.
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And this is exactly why summer cost of it would be near 0, and winter cost would be high, especially in cold zip codes. It has been proven over and over again that ‘pay for what you need’ model, while seems attractive to consumer at first glance, will always screw consumer.
Airfares are wonderful example.
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In that case, start making basic stuff standard.
Heated seats, steering wheel, adaptive headlights, leather, so on.
Follow Audi’s model. 3 trim levels with small packages at each trim level.
Funny how trends go in cycles.
I was browsing the BMW site recently and had to laugh; they have finally filled out every single 1-8 model with nearly unlimited permutations and options. Truly absurd. Remember when they had around 5 models with a few engine choices and option packages and that was it? 
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