Obviously, with the sale of Rover and all the takeover manueverings, things have changed considerably since that time. Milberg recently did an about-face and said there WILL be a "proper BMW" positioned below the 3-series. BMW claims it will not be called the "2-series" or "2002."

If you consider the rate at which BMW's customer base is aging, it makes sense to have an entry-level product. Not to many folks under 25 are interested in cars that start at over $30K (well, not outside of SV, anyway). It may seem odd, but in 10-15 years, they could be where Cadillac and Lincoln are now.

I doubt BMW knows exactly what form this thing is going to take at this point. I believe they've had a number of aborted starts at this already. I understand that they have an E46 Compact (new 318ti) almost ready to go, but I don't think that's what they mean by a "new series."