What it takes to be successful is more than any one thing. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

When it comes to the German luxury Big Three, it seems as though Mercedes is roiling with things like headcount reductions and other measures to reduce costs; Audi is somewhat invisible (in the U.S. its 2024 sales were down by 14%, which puts it in third place, but at 196,576 to second place Mercedes’ 324,528, so that is a far-away third), and BMW, well, it would be fair to say it is doing well.

Last year BMW Group sold a total 371,346 vehicles in the U.S., up 12.3%.

There are arguably two reasons this is likely the case:

1. BMW has an assortment of powertrains: ICE, hybrid and EV. Customers have a choice.
2. The company’s supervisory board made an announcement today regarding members of its board of management, focusing on the Development Division, but going beyond that. Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management, said: “Technology and innovation are and will remain key success factors for BMW. “That is why we have been combining the technological expertise and the great innovative capacity of our Development, Production, Purchasing and Supplier Network Divisions in our comprehensive technology clusters for years.”

Note well Development, Production, Purchasing, and Supplier Network.

The success of a company just isn’t what it puts under the hoods of its vehicles or what kind of ADAS is deploys.

It is predicated on the integration of parts of its organization.

Without this solid integration, something gets left out and problems arise.