BMW to quit F1

[Oilman]

BMW Quits Formula One Racing at End of Season After a Decade

By Alex Duff and Chris Reiter
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Bayerische Motoren Werke AG said it
will quit Formula One auto racing after a decade at the end of
the 2009 championship.
The biggest luxury-car maker is the second automaker to
decide to quit the series in eight months. Honda Motor Co. left
in December to save at least 20 billion yen ($212 million) a
year amid slumping sales.
Munich-based BMW, which uses Formula One to market its
brand, reported a 13 percent drop in car sales in June, the
slowest decline since October. The carmaker supplied engines to
the Williams team for six years before buying the Sauber team in
2005.
”As our company places stronger focus on sustainability
initiatives, our participation in Formula One becomes less a key
promoter of this engagement,” Chief Executive Officer Norbert
Reithofer said at a press conference in Munich today.
The BMW team, which has about 700 staff in Munich and
Hinwil, Switzerland, is withdrawing after months of friction
between teams and ruling body Federation Internationale de l’Automobile over rules.
The BMW team finished third in last year’s constructors’
championship with 135 points behind Ferrari and McLaren. It
managed eight points after 10 of 17 races this year as drivers
Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica struggled to match championship
pacesetters Brawn and Red Bull.
“As long as it doesn’t lead to a loss in pricing power,
it’s a reasonable decision,” said Georg Stuerzer, an automotive
analyst with UniCredit in Munich. “If it doesn’t help brand
image, then it’s too expensive.”
He estimated that BMW spends 200 million euros a year on
Formula One and saving that money could add 1.50 euros to BMW’s
share price by improving cash flow and earnings.

 

[Mockngbrd]

Re: BMW to quit F1

sad news indeed
there goes my tshirt

 

[Breyton]

Re: BMW to quit F1

Another one bites the dust..... maybe Jean Todt should buy the team, rename it Todt GP and next year win the championship....

 

[VolanteDB9]

Re: BMW to quit F1

maybe Proton should take over...then sell it for $1 next few years...

 

[Rastaman]

Re: BMW to quit F1

Just heard abt it..bad news. I hope eccelstone is learning fm this.

 

[///M3]

Re: BMW to quit F1

sad news indeed
there goes my tshirt

dont worry..the shirt price might shoot up!

sad news indeed x2

 

[TripleM]

Re: BMW to quit F1

SELL BMWs !!!!!

 

[Racebred]

Re: BMW to quit F1

then mosley/successor will come in with the budget cap thing again.

 

[Racebred]

Re: BMW to quit F1

the t-shirt i really wanted to buy was super aguri. but they didnt make it leh.

 

[edlms]

Re: BMW to quit F1

SELL BMWs !!!!!

BUY BMW SHARES!!!!
ha ha ha...

cheers

 

[rab]

Re: BMW to quit F1

Only four choices of engines for new teams

 

[centurion]

Re: BMW to quit F1

Here's the official statement: Official statement from BMW - Planet-F1 News - from planet-f1.com

Check out the first comment, quite justified:
capitalsoul
"GOOD RIDDANCE So glad to see THIS company run off with it's tail between it's legs. Let's not forget what they nearly did to Range Rover, Austin Rover and Williams everything they touch they ruin or run into the ground. I feel so sorry for Peter Sauber he did'nt need this his team had a lot of respect from all us F1 followers. Yet once again this company comes along and ruins it all congratulations Mario. As for you Robert follow the black horse that's where your future is. "

 

[gadaffi]

Re: BMW to quit F1

gees.. does this means bmw sales are bad ard the world??

 

[Slater]

Re: BMW to quit F1

gees.. does this means bmw sales are bad ard the world??

dun think the sales are bad. just that in times like these u have to weigh ur options and assess if an investment such a F1 is value addiing or reaping sufficient returns. Money can be better well spent in other areas

 

[VolanteDB9]

Re: BMW to quit F1

Here's the official statement: Official statement from BMW - Planet-F1 News - from planet-f1.com

Check out the first comment, quite justified:
capitalsoul
"GOOD RIDDANCE So glad to see THIS company run off with it's tail between it's legs. Let's not forget what they nearly did to Range Rover, Austin Rover and Williams everything they touch they ruin or run into the ground. I feel so sorry for Peter Sauber he did'nt need this his team had a lot of respect from all us F1 followers. Yet once again this company comes along and ruins it all congratulations Mario. As for you Robert follow the black horse that's where your future is. "

I do not agree its justified at all, this comment smacks of misleading British Pride.

Rolls-Royce, owned by Vickers plc of Britain at that time. Formerly the brand of kings, Rolls-Royce had fallen on hard times under Vickers, a British conglomerate that did not invest in the brand.

Land Rover, neglected by British Leyland and then British Aerospeace.

Mini, also long neglected by British Leyland and British Aerospace. The tiny but lovable car hadn't had a complete overhaul since its 1959 introduction. BMW's development chief Reitzle nonetheless saw Mini as the minicar. Minicars were becoming an important segment in Europe and Asia because of ever increasing fuel prices and, as always, the narrow, centuries old city strets and village roads and the dearth of parking places in Europe. Reitzle didn't want to take BMW itself indo the declasse segment, but he felt it was a market BMW should pursue through the right acquistion. Mini was the natural choice. (the last trip to Europe I see a lot more Smart for 2 though)

It was quite a shopping list Reitzle presented to BMW's elder statesman von Kuenheim.(Reitzle wanted Aston Martin as well but it had already been snapped up by Ford.)

Reitzle flew to London to talk to Sir David Plasto, chairman of Rolls-Royce, about acquiring the storied brand. Vickers and BMW were already in business together producing aero engines. Vickers had acquired the legendary, but now antique, factory at Crewe, England that built Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles.

Vickers never showed much interest in the business, taking it on almost as a kind of favor to the nation after its previous owner went belly-up. Quality and innovation, the onetime hallmarks of the brands, had fallen woefully absent from the cars. By the time BMW began its pursuit, both Rolls and Bentley had been using the same engine and chasis for 30years. And the Rolls-Royce brand had been neglected in favor of the growing Bentley brand. Combined sales for them had dwindled to anemic levels and Plasto was just delighted to find a taker in BMW.

After disagreements in their own meeting, BMW canceled Reitzle's deal with Plasto. After an embarrasing meeting at Vickers, Reitzle went to Rover's owner. British Aerospace, to discuss buying Land Rover and Mini without taking on the entire Rover brand, but British Aerospace rebuffed that offer. The fortunes if you could call them that of Rover, Land Rover and Mini were intertwined in the last mainstream British car companies Rolls Royce not withstanding. Ford had already snapped up Jaguar for $2.5 billion. The Brits didn't want the last vestiges of their once proud auto industry simply picked clean by the Germans.

These deals to buy over the British antiques almost never came to fruition till a change of leadership on both sides. BMW once again offered to negotiations by repeating Reitzle's gambit of two year prior: Land Rover and Mini only, but the new chief Simpson echoed Plasto's refusal, knowing that the marginally profitable Land Rover was the tasty buttercream icing hiding Rover's rotting, rancid cake. It was his ace. Anyone who wanted Land Rover or Mini would have to absorb Rover as a whole. Simpson, a 25-year Rover veteran, knew the company had to be sold to a better resourced and more engaged company(in the auto biz) than British Aerospace.

What was Rover? The company had only been substained only by its partnership with Honda, which owned part of the company and supplied Rover with vehicle platforms and development expertise...much like Proton and Mitsubishi.

The Rover name had been applied to all cars marketed by the company after 1986 when the old Austin name was dropped. But quality never reached Honda levels, and marketing failed to establish Rover as a true premium brand, which had been the strategy. Cars were either too small, priced wrong, or too dull. There was almos no credibility surronding the brand in GREAT BRITAIN @_@ or continental Europe except among old-line Brits who bought the brand out of stubborn national or brand loyalty. The plants were antiques and the workers clung to old, often sloppy work pratices. Land Rover made the company look marginally profitable but the Rover(Austin) brand was bleeding money.

Numerous rounds of negotiations took place and on a cold miserable day in January 1994, BMW offered 800 million pounds for Rover, plus 20 million pounds to Honda as an incentive to continue supplying engines, plus assumption of Rover's 200million pounds in debt and 700 million pounds in off balance sheet commitments. The deal added up to 1.7 billion British pounds AND it would have to be blessed by Britain's Department of Trade and Industry and the British Board of Trade.

The Department of Trade and Industry was concerned only with preserving jobs in the politically important British Midlands and so after the protection of jobs and further investment was guaranteed, the ULTIMATE BLUNDER was inked.

After it all...BMW learned alot aobut itself during the 6 years it owned Rover...at a price tag in excess of $8billion. They did slap the British face but also saved the British Arse. Plants in England are still running producing 4 potter engines, parts and the Mini because of BMW. With British politicians always soliciting BMW chiefs like whores to their manor houses, seeking reassurances these jobs are not cut by the next election.

this is what i recall from Driven by David Kiley.

 

[Mockngbrd]

Re: BMW to quit F1

Rover didn't need any help to run themselves to the ground... and where was Sauber before BMW took over anyway?

 

[centurion]

Re: BMW to quit F1

pilotsnoopy, you should name your quote sources. If I remember correctly you are quoting selectively from David Kiley's BMW propaganda book: Driven, correct?

I do not agree its justified at all, this comment smacks of misleading British Pride.

Rolls-Royce, owned by Vickers plc of Britain at that time. Formerly the brand of kings, Rolls-Royce had fallen on hard times under Vickers, a British conglomerate that did not invest in the brand.

... 1994, BMW offered 800 million pounds for Rover, plus 20 million pounds to Honda as an incentive to continue supplying engines, plus assumption of Rover's 200million pounds in debt and 700 million pounds in off balance sheet commitments. The deal added up to 1.7 billion British pounds AND it would have to be blessed by Britain's Department of Trade and Industry and the British Board of Trade.

The Department of Trade and Industry was concerned only with preserving jobs in the politically important British Midlands and so after the protection of jobs and further investment was guaranteed, the ULTIMATE BLUNDER was inked.

After it all...BMW learned alot aobut itself during the 6 years it owned Rover...at a price tag in excess of $8billion. They did slap the British face but also saved the British Arse. Plants in England are still running producing 4 potter engines, parts and the Mini because of BMW. With British politicians always soliciting BMW chiefs like whores to their manor houses, seeking reassurances these jobs are not cut by the next election.

 

[VolanteDB9]

Re: BMW to quit F1

pilotsnoopy, you should name your quote sources. If I remember correctly you are quoting selectively from David Kiley's BMW propaganda book: Driven, correct?

yea what i can remember of it and the same story when you go to e plants as mentioned msn...

Propaganda sia...mai ai ni kuan la...

 

[althaus]

Re: BMW to quit F1

H
Check out the first comment, quite justified:
capitalsoul
"GOOD RIDDANCE So glad to see THIS company run off with it's tail between it's legs. Let's not forget what they nearly did to Range Rover, Austin Rover and Williams everything they touch they ruin or run into the ground. I feel so sorry for Peter Sauber he did'nt need this his team had a lot of respect from all us F1 followers. Yet once again this company comes along and ruins it all congratulations Mario. As for you Robert follow the black horse that's where your future is. "

Range Rover - I think the Range Rover launched as a result of BMW's investment was great... Even after all these years, it still lasted.

Williams after BMW, nothing great either. Shows that F1 teams required the backing of money from car manufacturers for it to be justifiable... Was Sauber a winning team in the first place before BMW took over? At most it was better than average.

As for BMW ruining stuff, its a bit biased and BMW-bashing, IMO... since BMW made Rolls Royce great again, and it made Mini popular even in N. America.

Thus how could the comments even be justifiable?

As for BMW leaving F1, it was a good business decision. Amt spent to win podiums means a lot of money.... If cannot win races, whats the point of entering or even being in F1. The money could be better spent on facilities and engineering. Or even goes into development of new models.

 

[como]

Re: BMW to quit F1

it is a business decision and I think if the economy goes south....more will follow.

Honda left F1, not because they are cash strapped, it is a business decision and they are one of the top car makers in e world.

I believe BMW is following the same route which I think is a good decision.