While some praised the return of the 8 Series nameplate after two decades of absence, others criticized the new luxury coupe for not being as unique and charismatic as its predecessor. And it's hard to disagree with them: the 1990 8 Series was an oddball in the BMW range at the time, both in terms of design and technology. The new iteration of the model, on the other hand mostly seems like a bigger, better 6 Series that has been transformed into the weird GT hatchback lineup.

Thus, even before the release of the 2018 model, speculations began circulating among car lovers and journalists whether the new 8 Series would be as much of a flop and its predecessor was. And given the latest sales numbers, it seems like it might just be. Sure, given the current situation with the global pandemic and the general economic downturn, none of the car manufacturers are doing that great. Still, we believe that there are more underlying issues in the case of the 8 Series. Issues that, in our opinion, will doom it to be a complete failure in the US market.

The Glorious Origins

bmw 850csi
via roadandtrack.com

The 8 Series name might some novel to those who are not so well-versed in BMW's history. However, the 2018 model, known to enthusiasts and to BMW as the G14, is actually the second generation of the 8 Series. The first generation, titled E31, came out all the way back in 1990 and was quite a breakthrough for BMW. It debuted at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show after BMW spent almost 10 years and roughly a billion inflation-adjusted US dollars developing the daring grand tourer.

The E31 was BMW's top of the line offering, a halo car - both in terms of pricing and performance. First came the 850i model, equipped with a buttery-smooth 5.0-liter M70 V12 that put out around 300 horsepower. Upon its release in the US market, the 850i was priced at $100,000 - in 1989 dollars, that is, making it the most expensive BMW ever at the time.

One could argue that the steep price could have been justified by the sheer number of innovations that were implemented during E31's development. It was one of the first cars ever to be designed with computer software, one of the first BMWs to implement a fully independent multi-link rear suspension and one of the first cars with an electronic drive-by-wire throttle.

Carriage Turns Into A Pumpkin

bmw 850i rear
via pinterest.com

Sadly, while all these innovations might have been exciting to engineers, they didn't matter as much to the 8 Series affluent target audience. What mattered, however, is the steep entry fee into the club of 8 Series owners - and ever steeper maintenance costs. The E31 is a notoriously sophisticated and, as a result, unreliable vehicle. In terms of complexity, BMW's M70 V12 engine alone can be rivaled, perhaps, only by the Jaguar V12.

Combine all these factors with the poor fuel economy that coincided with the skyrocketing fuel prices in the 90s, add a dash of the economic downturn of that decade, and it's easy to see why the original 8 Series didn't sell well. Over the ten-year production run, BMW only managed to sell 31,062 units worldwide, and a measly 7,232 cars found their way to the US. And even though nowadays the E31 has somewhat of a cult following, back in the day it was considered nothing short of glorious failure.

Like Father, Like Son?

bmw e31 and g15 side by side
via drivenmag.co.za

Fast forward to the present day and to the reborn 8 Series. For the G15 generation, BMW engineers seem to have learned from their mistakes. The 8 Series is no longer a prohibitively expensive, unreliable oddball. In fact, it's much like any other BMW, since it's based on the CLAR platform that BMW introduced with the 2015 7 Series. There is now a convertible version, a four-door Gran Coupe sedan, and even the coveted high-performance M8 model, available in all body styles.

Prices range from around $85,000 for the base six-cylinder 840i Gran Coupe sedan to over $150,000 for the M8 droptop that will do 0 to 6o in 3 seconds. With the amazing performance, outstanding levels of comfort and luxury and gorgeous styling, one might just say that BMW has created the ultimate grand tourer.

But then again, their intentions for the first-gen model were the same. And just like the original 8 Series, the current model doesn't seem to be selling well, either. According to The Truth About Cars, last year, BMW only managed to move 4,410 cars in the United States and 6,640 in Europe. Furthermore, as reported by Automotive News, the BMW dealers in North America have started to grow more and more impatient. In their opinion, BMW did not do a good enough job with marketing the vehicle, and, as a result, there are now more than 2,000 unsold 8 Series cars sitting in the dealers' parking lots.

RELATED: BMW Set To Release A 600 HP i8 Coupe In 2023

The Forecast Is Cloudy

2019 bmw 850i
via youtube.com

The question that arises now, of course, is what's gonna happen to the 8 Series. And if you ask us, things aren't looking that great for the luxury grand tourer. And the reason why couldn't have been more obvious - BMW made the wrong car at the wrong time.

Firstly, there is the fact that global car sales are now dominated by SUVs. And releasing the 8 Series pretty much alongside the all-new X7 SUV only made matters worse. Simply compare the numbers - since both cars were launched, BMW has sold 8,823 8 Series 21,574 X7s in the US. The truth is that luxury coupes are just not that hot right now - the exact reason why Mercedes is ditching the S-Class coupe and convertible versions. And we fail to see why BMW would want to make a car to compete with a model that is soon to be discontinued.

Secondly, there is the confusing 8 Series lineup. BMW right now is probably the best example of how to oversaturate your lineup to the point where the customers can't even see any difference between the models. Consider BMW's top-0f-the-line models: the 7 Series luxury sedan, the X7 luxury SUV, and the 8 Series luxury...everything. All start at around the same price, all share the same engines, interior layouts, and, to a large extent, styling.

RELATED: Complete Guide To BMW’s Car Lineup

So why would someone pick an impractical, flashy sports coupe over an SUV that costs the same, has the same performance, but has tenfold the cabin room and the ground clearance? And then there is the Gran Coupe sedan, which is supposed to be a sportier, more expensive version of the 7 Series. Or, in other words, a four-door version of a two-door version of a four-door car. Do you understand now what we mean by an oversaturated lineup?

Finally, if you add the wildcard in the form of the global COVID-19 pandemic that's causing a disastrous economic downturn, you can see that the 8 Series' chances aren't that great in the US. The demand for new cars has never been lower, let alone the demand for $100,000 luxury GT coupes. And unless the BMW marketing department can come up with some genius marketing strategy that will move the actual cars, the 8 Series is doomed to flop. Which is a shame, since it's a great car. However, as we've learned with the original 8 Series, "great" does not always equal "commercially successful."

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