The German makes are all in large product lines, and they are the most profitable in the world. It doesn’t make sense to designers (me included), but I guess the extra cost of making a unique niche product (5 series hatchback?) is less than the sales generated. It makes it all the more confusing that Detroit wants to trim their product lines when the most profitable car makers seem to be concentrating on categories that might deliver under 10k globally a year.