E65 7 series

["Gary Krumian" <gkrumian@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tonight, I saw the new 7 series in person in Los Angeles.  The car had no
badges but you could tell what it was.  I had two people with me and they
couldn't point the car out as being a BMW.  It does have a very interesting
design and it looks far smaller than it is.  Though it is quite a radical
departure from the BMW norm, I think it will be successful.  It certainly
couldn't be called beautiful the way a Mercedes S-Class is, but I still
think it will work with the public.

Since it was nightime, what I was immediately captivated by were the two TV
screens.  Big and very bright.  The center console is very wide and
obviously free of shifter or anything else for that matter save for the
iDrive stick.  It was funny seeing the driver push a stalk by the steering
wheel to get the car into reverse.  It's like pushing in the cruise control
stalk.  The driver must have known I knew what I was looking at because he
sped away without acknowledging my gestures.

Time will tell how successful it will be but I don't doubt there will be
much problem for BMW.  Then again, one of my friends asked me if this car
was BMW's next $40,000 car.  When I said $75K, he said it doesn't look like
a car in that price range.

I can't call the Audi TT or the Ferrari 360 beautiful either but they have
worked well.  This car is going to be interesting.

Gary Krumian

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