A couple of weeks ago, Mercedes-Benz revealed that it's teaming up with Nissan to develop a pickup truck for various markets. So now, obviously, the question as to whether BMW will follow suit has just been asked to its North American CEO. Automotive News reported his hypocritical response: "It is always about staying true to the brand," stated Ludwig Willisch. "It is about driving, not transporting others." Yeah. OK. So what about all of those crossovers that begin with X? As of right now, BMW builds X1 through X6 (an X2 is in the works).

A full-size X7 crossover will be on sale in two or three years. And that's not at all about transporting people? Willisch did admit the X7 will be somewhat of a departure for the brand, and further acknowledged that the corporate mindset "changes over time. At one point we did not think we could go into the truck business at all." Maybe not pickups, but crossvers/ SAVs (BMW-speak for Sports Activity Vehicles) are far departures from the old school 2002 and many other Ultimate Driving Machines. The new FWD 2-Series Active Tourer? Americans don't even want to be seen hauling their kids around in one, hence the decision not to sell it in the US. Point being, don't be surprised if BMW were to build a truck at some point. It sold out long ago.