Sums it up really

It really does: "Do a little experiment for me if you will. The next time you're driving to/from work on any major road or freeway in any metro area, especially in the 'smile' section of America (down the east coast, across the south, and up the west coast), start looking around and see if you can go a minute, one whole minute, without seeing a BMW. I'm betting you won't be able to, as they're absolutely everywhere. In the blink of an eye, they went from being fairly rare, usually driven by enthusiasts with a bit of money, to ubiquitous, driven by everybody with a bit of credit."

I too remember when BMWs were understated sporting prestige saloons that hankered after what Alfa Romeo had: history and cachet. They built sweet, practical and fuel-efficient cars with lusty engines and plenty of oversteer. They buried old 4-cylinder blocks to "mature" them, digging them up later, strapping on a big turbo and letting F1 drivers like Nelson Piquet loose. And then they suddenly started to make underpowered cars, lots of 'em, just to sell more. And luxo-barges because they wanted to be like Daimler-Benz. And then they tapped into a little of their past glories to make coupes, although ugly ones. Finally they joined the herd and made unfortunate if brilliantly devised fat 4WDs. And thus they became, like Subaru Impreza WRXs, as common as muck. Like it seemed anyone could buy one, and they did.

It's called marketing, coupled with strategy, coupled with consumers with too much credit and a longing for materialism over all. Good on BMW for mining this happy vein of wealth, but they lost my respect long ago. So it goes.