Free Kindle Driven: Inside BMW, The Most Admired Car Company In The World ebooks Download
An exclusive look at one of the world's most successful and controversial companies, and the mysterious family behind it. BMW is arguably the most admired carmaker in the world. It's financial performance is the envy of its competitors, and BMW products inspire near-fanatical loyalty. While many carmakers struggle with falling sales, profits and market share, demand for BMWs continues to grow, frequently outpacing production. Now, David Kiley-Detroit Bureau Chief at USA Today and author of Getting the Bugs Out, which covered Volkswagen's demise and rebirth, goes inside the fabled German automaker to see how it does what it does so well. With unprecedented access to BMW executives, Kiley goes behind the walls of BMW's famed "Four Cylinders" headquarters in Munich at a time when the company is in its most aggressive, and some say riskiest, expansion in its history and when some of the company's new products, like the 7 Series sedan and Z4 roadster, are for the first time drawing as many barbs from critics as bouquets. Kiley covers intimate details of the boardroom drama surrounding the company's nearly disastrous acquisition and subsequent sale of the British Rover Group and its expansion into selling MINI and Rolls Royce cars. Besides being a world-class carmaker, BMW is also considered one of the smartest consumer marketing companies and Kiley explores the extraordinary value and management of the BMW brand mystique. He also takes a revealing look at the mysterious and ultra-private Quandt family of Bad Homburg Germany, which owns a controlling stake in BMW: Johanna and Susanne Quandt, two of the wealthiest women in Europe and Stefan Quandt, one of the wealthiest bachelors on the continent. David Kiley (Ann Arbor, MI) is the Detroit Bureau Chief at USA Today who has covered the auto industry for 17 years. He has been featured on Nightline, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, NPR and the Today show. He is also the author of Getting the Bugs Out: The Rise, Fall, and Comeback of Volkswagen in America (0-471-26304-4), also available from Wiley.
Hardcover: 328 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 2, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0471269204
ISBN-13: 978-0471269205
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #772,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #150 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Automotive #299 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Transportation #1459 in Books > Business & Money > Marketing & Sales > Advertising
I got this book because I like to follow the automotive industry, rather than because I am a BMW fan. Reading "Driven" was both enjoyable and frustrating...the story is told reasonably well, although it drags a bit in its description of BMW stylists in Chapter 5, for example. But the missing link to me was the lack of followup in some topics.The book comprises eight chapters with an introduction and epilogue. Each chapter title plays off the "Ultimate Driving Machine" ad line; in order, they are:- "The Ultimate Cars" discusses the product line, and I felt that a little too much adulation came out here (the author is a 3-time BMW owner IIRC)- "The Ultimate History" was a disappointment, completely omitting any discussion of motorcycles and only sparsely covering the aero engine side of the company. The author does eventually admit that the owners of BMW were (...)employing slave labor; while a lot of companies and industrialists in Weimar Germany supported the (...)party just to go along with the current power, but the author seemed to try to apologize too much for this facet of BMW's history.- "The Ultimate Family" covers the Quandts, who have controlled BMW for over 40 years, along with Varta batteries and several other large German companies. This seemed a little circumspect, although I can certainly understand a need to protect sources and hold back a bit.- "The Ultimate Brand" includes the history of BMW's advertising in the US, which is treated reasonably interestingly. (David Kiley also wrote a book on the classic VW ads in the US, and is probably the most qualified person to address this part of BMW.
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