ORIGINAL QUESTION

Discussion Topic: Business Level Strategy

Visit the websites of two luxury car makers:

• Lincoln at http://lincoln.com
• BMW at http://www.bmwusa.com

These two automotive giants compete in the same strategic group. Browse each website and search for each company's business-level strategy.

How are the luxury car competitors’ strategies similar? In what manner are they different? Which company has the competitive advantage and why?

STUDENT NUMBER 1 RESPONSE:

Professor and class,

After having reviewed both websites, I have come to the conclusion that both sites have a similar approach with slight differences as to how they advertise their front-line models. Lincoln portrays a Spring theme with blooming trees and rolling hills in their background, while showing their line-up of cars in the front. (Luxury cars, Crossovers SUVs, n.d.) BMW takes a similar approach, except instead of portraying the season, they show a line-up of their popular sports cars featured on a racetrack. The main site difference I notices is that Lincoln sports quite a few pre-made designs with options on customizing the color and the interior of their cars. The options are very limited on how far you can go to customize the car though whereas you can customize the color of the car, rims, etc. BMW features near-full customization of their entire car line-up right from the start. Not only can you customize the color of the cars themselves, but you can customize everything both inside and outside of the car such as the stereo system, Bluetooth, type and color of seats, type of dashboard, to color of car on exterior, type of rims, sunroof/moon roof, and body design.

Price seems to be another major difference between he two brands. Lincoln tend to be less expensive than BMW, but offers little customization. Fuel mileage also differs. I find that Lincoln’s on the site are estimated to get between 16-25mpg, (Luxury cars, Crossovers SUVs, n.d.) whereas BMW’s get 35mpg or more. (BMW of North America, n.d.) Lincoln seems to have a focus on a spacious interior as well as a unique look to the exterior. BMW is concerned with producing as they say “The Ultimate Driving Machine” (BMW of North America, n.d.) where the car can be tailored to each of your every needs. We know both brands to have their own reputation, however I could not find any further information as to the reliability of both brands. However, it must be an indicator if we are still seeing the old BMW’s still on the road that people must really like them to continue to be driving them after this time.

Based on their approach, to me it would appear that BMW comes off as the better brand. It’s not that I don’t like the look of the Lincoln cars, however noticed that there is not much to distinguish the brand apart from being spacious and uniform on design. Lincoln has more of a focus on creating a more spacious car with little concern on gas mileage whereas BMW meets both of these requirements. The competitive advantage that I can see for BMW is that their cars are spacious, fuel efficient (dependent on model), and offers full customization to really make the car yours which then lives up to the slogan “The Ultimate Driving Machine” (BMW of North America, n.d.); because the car is what you make it.

References

BMW of North America. (n.d.). Retrieved from BMW USA: http://www.bmwusa.com/

Luxury cars, Crossovers SUVs. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Lincoln Motor Company: http://www.lincoln.com/

STUDENT NUMBER 2 RESPONSE:

Professor and Class,
I felt that the two business strategies were very similar. Both Lincoln and BMW offer many models of vehicles in their inventory. They both have vehicles that could be built to the customers needs. They both offered vehicles that began in the same price range and went up in price depending the type, model, and extras a customer would need. Both Lincoln and BMW had very appealing and attractive websites with great graphics and enticing deals. On both websites, a consumer was able to buy or lease a vehicle of their choosing as well as estimate the pricing before stepping into a dealer. I believe BMW did have a competitive advantage over Lincoln because is more of a global company and BMW is bought and sold all over the world where as Lincoln is more of an American made and sold vehicle. 

References
http://lincoln.com
http://www.bmwusa.com