BMW Can’t Afford To Screw This Up

I’m not sure that I can entirely articulate BMW’s strategy as of late. The company still makes some extremely competent performance sedans, as well as numerous crossovers and SUVs that are at or near the top of their respective classes. There are electric cars, too, and those are much better than what either Audi or Mercedes is producing. There are even hybrids. In this way, BMW is a bit more like Lexus, albeit with a broader EV portfolio.

BMW simultaneously offers a wide range of electric cars while also not feeling like it’s gone entirely EV-pilled in the same way Mercedes and Volkswagen have. What the automaker has lacked is a kill-shot vehicle — something designed to absolutely dominate the market both at home and abroad. That’s coming soon, and BMW’s boss just admitted he can’t afford to screw it up.

The Morning Dump has been dominated by automotive screwups lately, so my plan today is to focus on the brighter side of the world. The Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair are not long for this world, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a decent deal on the two long-serving crossovers. If you want something a little bigger and more Franco-British, perhaps the now-cheaper Ineos is more your speed?

And Škoda news! I have amazing Škoda news!

The iX3 Or Nothing At All

Germany has decided to re-motivate buyers to purchase electric cars after cutting incentives at the end of last year, and the result has been a massive turnaround in EV sales in the country. After seeing EV preference drop for much of last year, sales jumped 35% in Q1 2025 to a record 249,155 vehicles. Who makes most of those vehicles? Volkswagen!

The ID.7 that we’re not getting was the biggest seller, but Volkswagen products (if you include Śkoda, Audi, and Cupra) made up eight of the top ten slots. The other two? The Tesla Model Y, which is free-falling, and the BMW iX1. Much of this is because BMW has a lot of good, yet expensive, electric cars, and just one quasi-affordable model in the iX1, which is still about 50,000 EUR out the door.

What the company has done over the last few years is invest more than a billion dollars into the Neue Klasse strategy of completely from-the-ground-up electric vehicles. The first one will be a two-door Model Y-fighter called the BMW iX3. This will offer over 400 miles of range (on the European test cycle) and try to compete on price with the cars coming from Volkswagen and also China.

It’ll debut in Munich early next month, and BMW calls it “one of the most significant new vehicles in its history.” More than just an EV with good range, BMW is attempting to make it ultra-modern and tech-forward in a way that’ll make it competitive in China and elsewhere.

It’s essentially an “all eggs in one basket” situation, and if the iX3 doesn’t work, then the company will have spent a huge amount of capital, both literal and metaphorical, on a failure. Could the company survive this not working? Probably not as-is. BMW is still a smaller, family-owned enterprise compared to other European carmakers and global players. If it works, there’s no reason why BMW can’t supplant Tesla in some European markets and make a dent in the United States.

Spiegel has a big feature on the vehicle that’s “supposed to save the German car industry,” and BMW boss Oliver Zipse puts it all out there, saying “You can’t afford to make mistakes in this industry” and that there’s going to be an evolutionary “selection process” in the industry that not everyone is going to survive.

BMW wants to survive.

Maybe An Escape Is In Your Future

The Ford Escape is going away, leaving the Maverick and Bronco Sport as the cheapest vehicles in Ford’s lineup. That’s weird. Eventually, Ford will fix this with cheapish electric cars.

In the interim, Ford is going to build enough Escapes (and Lincolns Corsair) to get through the rest of 2025 and 2026. That creates an opportunity for some buyers to grab a car that’s being discounted on the way out and that has a ton of parts support. As the Detroit Free Press points out, it’s all a matter of timing it out right:

“Much will depend on how consumers respond,” said Kevin Roberts, director of economic and market Intelligence at car shopping site CarGurus. “Historically, when a model ends production, demand tends to ease. That often means vehicles sit on dealer lots longer, which usually results in more incentives and discounts to help clear them out and make room for models still in production.”

But Edmunds’ auto industry expert Ivan Drury warns car buyers to not wait too long for that deal.

“As a consumer, you have a window of time to balance discounts and inventory available to get the right color and configuration,” Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. “Even if you don’t care about specifics and just want the best deal, don’t wait too long, at some point the automaker stops supplying discounts and the price you pay will be 100% determined by your negotiation skills and the dealerships willingness to sell at discount.”

Resale value will be lower, of course, but if you’re just looking for something decent and good that’ll last a while, then you could do worse than an Escape or Corsair.

The ‘Real’ Land Rover Defender Just Got Cheaper Because People Stopped Buying Them

I have a great fondness for our designer Adrian Clarke, so why would I write this subhead knowing that it’ll drive him to madness? Perhaps I’m just daring him to ship me the Ssangyong Rodius “piece by piece” as he’s threatened to do already this morning.

The Ineos Grenadier is a great off-roader, albeit a pricey one. The French-made truck got caught up in all this tariff business, but the incoming relaxation of trade barriers and the ongoing slide in Ineos sales have seemingly led to a price drop, as Automotive News reports:

“This adjustment reflects our commitment to meeting the competitive set and ensuring the Grenadier delivers exceptional value in its segment,” the spokesperson said in an email to Automotive News.

Pricing for the higher Trialmaster and Fieldmaster trims now starts at $80,600 , down 8.9 percent from the previous starting price of $88,500. The Grenadier in Trialmaster and Fieldmaster trims started at $84,700 before the new U.S. tariffs. All prices include shipping.

Pricing for the Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster pickup now starts at $86,000, down 9 percent from $94,500. The Quartermaster started at $85,500 prior to the tariffs, after a price cut from $96,500 in March. All prices include shipping.

A base price of $72,600 for the regular Grenadier isn’t bad, honestly — for all that style.

Škoda Has Been Reading My Dream Journal

While my love for Škoda may be well known and a little weird, everyone loves a Škoda Felicia Fun. The Czech version of a B.R.A.T., the Fun was a real truck that the company made. Could they make one again? That’s what the company is teasing with this render, which is just a render.

While Škoda’s history is filled with practical cars, it has also produced a number of cars purely for enjoyment. One of the most distinctive and truly original ones is the Felicia Fun pick-up truck, which followed earlier concepts such as the Favorit 781 Tremp and Favorit Fun. Unlike its predecessors, however, it took the “beach Škoda” idea all the way to series production.

The result was a cult automobile—one of the most unconventional production cars Škoda’s ever built. Now, French designer Julien Petitseigneur has envisioned how the Felicia Fun might look today through the lens of Modern Solid.

“The original car was pure fun. It didn’t take itself seriously and stood out, even by Škoda standards. For a light-hearted side project in my spare time, it was an obvious choice,” says the French designer explaining his choice. “I even got so immersed that I started thinking about buying the original,” he laughs.

I doubt Škoda will do it, given everything else, but I also think Škoda should do it.

C’mon, Škoda.

What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD

Have I not done a UGK song yet? That seems wrong. “Da Game Been Good To Me” is one way to fix that. RIP Pimp C.

The Big Question

What’s the most important BMW in the brand’s history?

Top photo: BMW