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Totally agree that they have to get it right. We have an emerging segment in the luxury compacts, but it is far from mature and even further from homogenous.
BMW needs to make the same statement in this segment as Mazda made in 1989 to spark the roadster segment. They got it absolutely right. And 17 years later, the Miata is fundamentally the same car and still inspires passion and has a huge following.
BMW is the master of all the elements of the formula: rwd, 50:50 weight dist., sublime handling, cutting edge styling, high quality. And the observation that there's nothing out there right now that hits on all the fundamentals is absolutely true; some examples:
B200: Merc quality, but not too sporty and fwd
GTI: great performer, good looks, but fwd and vw quality
A3: in my view, totally uninspired, fwd and loses out to the GTI in outright value for $$$
Mini Cooper: fun to drive, nice to look at, but underpowered, quirky, fwd, and the interior has quality issues.
For all the good offerings out there, nothing currently offers the rwd, handling, power, style and quality all in one package. This is where BMW comes in with a the 2.
You read it here first: the 2 could be to the luxury sport compact segment what Miata was to the affordable roadster...
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