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BMW is a brand I have owned and watched over several years, and it’s been interesting to see its perception move around the perceptual map. For several decades, during its ‘Ultimate Driving Machine’ years, it was considered a top luxury brand of car that people who enjoyed driving would aim to own. As a product, it was seen as second-to-none in this field, with Mercedes seen as a car that was nice to be inside, but not necessarily as fun to drive as a BMW, and Jaguar seen as luxury, but a bit stuffy. BMW was perceived as better engineered than American cars, even the higher-end ones such as Cadillac. Then something started to get muddy. The first problems may have come when Porsche started o