Fast Tube by Casper

During the Superbowl, BMW aired an advertisement for the new BMW X3, a small SUV designed and built by Americans and exported to other countries. The first generation of the X3 was poorly received for its cheap interior, harsh ride, and mediocre build quality. It may have looked like a BMW, but the South Carolina-built SUV was nothing like its big brother, the X5.

Today’s X3 is dramatically improved, and for inexplicable reasons, BMW wants to capitalize on the X3’s American roots.

Its unusual for a manufacturer with a distinct and positively associated national identity to distance itself from it — BMW thrives on its reputation for German engineering.

Popular perception says Germans are focused, precise, and driven people who design and build the greatest machines and drive them with the same determination they put into building and designing them. The fantasy of the Autobahn contributes to the aura of Teutonic superiority.

However, after Mercedes-Benz made a wreck of Chrysler and saw its own quality scores fall, the perception of legendary German greatness may be in decline.

The Mercedes ML, built in Alabama, earned a reputation for poor quality with interiors that withered to pieces, panel gaps you could stick your shoe in, and a mess of electrical and mechanical issues. A Top Gear survey in 2004 put the American-made Mercedes SUV dead last on a list of 142 cars.

It wasn’t until 2005, after eight years of mediocrity, that the model underwent extensive improvements. However, the damage to Mercedes-Benz’s stellar reputation was done, making room for Audi and BMW to rapidly increase sales volume.

Despite the damage done to Germany’s manufacturing reputation, people still aspire to own German cars for their “Germanness.”

Americans survivors of the Great Depression and World War II are aging and expiring, with memories associating Germany with The Third Reich fading into the past. Baby Boomers and Generation X have embraced the BMW 3-series, Audi A4, and Mercedes E-class as status symbols and objects of desire.

This makes BMW’s “Made in America” ad campaign all the more bizarre. Communication always has a goal, and I’m baffled by what BMW is trying to convey.