vabboud

it's a question of marketing strategy, with the introduction of the new A4 coming very soon, and right after the introduction of the C class, BMW is faced with 2 tough competitors, with an already 2+ yr old car
of cuorse historically the 3 has outsold both combined in most maklrets with whatever model differences, but you can't blame the boys of munich for wanting to keep the uncontested throne of their bread and butter model

so in this case BMW could either wait for the introduction of the new A4, suffer a less than excellent 3er year and then level things off the year after with a FL 3er

or introduce the FL 3er some month before the A4, making it the default buy of choice for people in this segment not specifically intent on audi, who would mostly go for the newer car and not wait the extra months with the added uncertainty of a completely new model, thus boosting sales for the pre A4 period and stealing potential customers from it, only to have things level off later to natural ranges as the 2 new models settle in their respective markets and buyer audiences.

in both these scenarios the new C class market impact has already been judged by the BMW boys, and though we might not know yet, numbers will reveal the hidden soon.
besides from a market specific point the C and 3 have little overlap in target audiences, and it remains to be seen if the new conceptualization of the MB C will be able to attract traditional 3er buyers or would rather chiefly compete with the A4 which is now offering a similar mix of sport and lux