Electric Mini to come from BMW?

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Automotive News reports that BMW is planning to build 500 Mini Coopers with Electric Motors for California.

The electric Mini cars would be built at the Mini factory in Oxford, England without engines, gearboxes and fuel tanks and then shipped to Munich, Germany, where they are being fitted with electric powertrains. Read more

Posted on Wed, 9 Jul 2008 23:27:31 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW Gina Light Cloth Concept Car

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BMW unveiled a unique new concept car dubbed BMW Gina Light. The BMW Gina Light has a flexible skin enabling whole new shapes of a car.

The video below shows the impressive views of a car that is skinned by a high-tech cloth.
Of course this is a very futuristic car concept, but today there is for instance no reason from a stability point of view to use metal as a car skin. Read more

Posted on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:24:46 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW X6 Test Drive

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Car blog Jalopnik has a hands-on Test Drive of the upcoming BMW X6 Sports Activity Coupe.

The test of the BMW X6 highlights lots of good points but also some negatives and compromises.
Quote: "Dynamic Performance Control is a genuine game changer, think of it as a form of stability control that gives you more control, increases grip to unimaginable levels and does both without interfering by grabbing brakes or cutting power. Other electronics eliminate dive and roll, too. Read more

Posted on Tue, 8 Apr 2008 10:30:33 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW X6 Pricing revealed

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Pricing details about the cool new BMW X6 SUV for the U.S. market have appeared.

The BMW X6 was officially introduced at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Back then European pricing was already available.

The BMW X6 3.5i is launching in April and has a base price of $52,500. Read more

Posted on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW X6 ActiveHybrid at Detroit Auto Show 2008

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Besides the production BMW X6, BMW also shows the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid concept at the NAIAS 2008 in Detroit.

The BMW Concept X6 ActiveHybrid allows far greater driving dynamics than a conventional hybrid car and at the same time reduces fuel consumption by up to 20% versus a comparable car running on a combustion engine alone. Read more

Posted on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:10:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Weekly I4U Top Stories: Earthrace, BMW X6, Corvette ZR1

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The Holiday Shopping season is almost over. One crazy weekend left at the malls across the country. If you still have no gift there is always the Amazon Gift Card.

Do not miss out on our Optimus Prime Photo Model Competition.
Read more

Posted on Sun, 23 Dec 2007 07:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW X6 SAV ships in May 2008

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The BMW X6 Sports Activity Coupe will debut at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show in January. In Germany the first X6 SAVs will ship in May.

We first reported about the BMW X6 in 2005 and I have been excited about it ever since. At the IAA 2007 BMW unveiled the BMW X6 Concept. Now in a couple of weeks the production version of the BMW X6 will debut at the Detroit Motor Show. Read more

Posted on Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:54:55 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW 1 Series Intorduced at LA Auto Show

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In addition to debuting the new 2008 M3 coupe and sedan at the 2007 LA Auto Show, BMW also introduced a new series called the 1 Series. Walking up and looking at the BMW 135i coupe was uneventful. The car failed to move me at all and so closely resembled the 3 Series that it made me wonder why BMW even bothered. You would expect with the 1 Series sitting numerically lower than the 3 series perhaps the difference is price.

BMW declined to comment on pricing for the 135i Coupe seen in these photos at the show. However, reports from others at the show are claiming that the price for the 1 series will be very close to that of the 3 series leaving many to wonder why BMW even went through the trouble. Read more

Posted on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:35:54 CST | by Shane McGlaun

2008 BMW M3 Sedan & Coupe at the LA Auto Show

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BMW unveiled its new M3 in both coupe and sedan forms to North America at the LA Auto Show. The coupe version of the M3 is particularly interesting to me. The entire roof section you see in the images as black is actually carbon fiber. The sedan version of the M3 lacks the carbon fiber roof.

The new M3 in both the sedan and coupe will be powered by a V8 engine producing 414-bhp and propelling the cars to a 4.7 second 0-60 time with the manual transmission. BMW claims that the 0-60 mph time is the same for both versions of the M3. With the coupe version coming standard with a carbon fiber roof, I would expect the weight reduction to translate into better performance for the coupe over the sedan. Read more

Posted on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:18:44 CST | by Shane McGlaun

BMW designed Starbucks Sirena

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Starbucks offers a cool looking espresso machine designed by the German car people at BMW.

The Starbucks Sirena is based on a Saeco machine. It comes with the ability to "auto-tamp" the coffee, pull a shot, and then with a proper heat time, steam your milk. Read more

Posted on Fri, 9 Nov 2007 13:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

The new BMW Concept 1 tii is a Drifter's Dream

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When I first saw the BMW 1 Coupe, I really did not like it. The new BMW Concept 1 tii version that BMW showed at the Tokyo Auto Show makes me love the new shape.

The BMW Concept 1 tii has an impressive 306hp and a theoretical top speed of 275km/h (~171mph) (electronically leveled at 250km/h). The weight of this fast little sports car has been reduced with carbon parts. Read more

Posted on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:36:19 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Spectacular BMW World opens Today in Munich

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Munich has another attraction besides the Octoberfest. BMW celebrates the opening of their BMW World (BMW Welt).

The dramatic architecture of the BMW World is carried by two twisted glass cones.
In the BMW World you can pick up your new Beamer in style. Your car arrives in a glass elevator and is put on a turning platform. After you get a 40 min. introduction to your new car you can drive it out of the BMW World into the real world. Read more

Posted on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 04:21:29 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

AC Schnitzer GP3.10 Gas Powered 3-Series BMW has 552hp

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German car tuner AC Schnitzer jumped on the green movement and developed an interesting power tuning of a 3-series BMW using auto gas.

The AC Schnitzer GP3.10 Gas Powered 3-Series BMW runs on Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG).
AC Schnitzer used the V10 engine of the current M5/M6 BMW cars as the bases for this project. AC Schnitzer generates 552 HP/406 kW and produces up to 540 Nm from that engine. The sprint to 100 km/h takes 4.5 seconds, and the 200 mark is passed after just 13.9 seconds.
LPG is not only cheaper than gasoline but produces around 15% less CO2 from the exhaust. Read more

Posted on Mon, 8 Oct 2007 08:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW X6 Concept Car unveiled at IAA 2007

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BMW unveiled the BMW X6 sport activity vehicle (SAV) concept at the IAA 2007 in Frankfurt.

About 2 years ago we reported for the first time about the BMW X6. As you can see when you compare the photos the X6 has changed quite a bit since then. For the better I might say.

The current BMW model portfolio is a bit boring. The X6 would be a very desirable car if it were available today. Read more

Posted on Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:27:20 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

IAA 2007: Chinese CEO SUV copies BMW X5 Rear

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The hunt for knock-offs is now also going to take place at the IAA 2007 car show. Trade-shows for electronics & toys have long been the best place for companies to protect their intellectual property. At the shows lawyers are scanning the halls for copied products and confiscating them.

Now BMW and DaimlerChrysler are supposedly considering steps against Chinese car makers who will exhibit cars at the IAA 2007 that have some striking similarities to their cars. Read more

Posted on Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW City

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BMW plans a new small car based on the Mini platform dubbed BMW City.

As you can see in the photo the BMW City looks sporty, but is tiny. The CO2 value is supposed to be way under 100g/km.

The BMW City will have a 1.4 liter turbo engine and is based on lightweight construction. Read more

Posted on Thu, 2 Aug 2007 11:01:30 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW Concept CS

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BMW unveiled the Concept CS at the Shanghai Motor show.

The BMW Concept CS is a four door 'Gran Turismo' coupe with dramatic and clear lines. This big ride is longer than the 7-series BMW.

It is unknown if BMW will actually productive the CS. At least the look of the CS can be taken as a hint on the future design language of BMW.
BMW published a stylish video of the Concept CS. See it here. Read more

Posted on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 08:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

The New BMW M3

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BMW introduces the all-new BMW M3 with a new V8 309 kW/420 hp engine.

The engine of the M3 takes pointers from the BMW Sauber Formula 1 engines and is made in the same plant. Specifications of the engine are 3,999 cc, peak torque of 400 Newton-meters or 295 lb-ft as well as maximum engine speed of 8,400 rpm.

The new BMW M3 accelerates 100 km/h comes in just 4.8s; top speed is 250km/h or 155mph. To lower the weight the M3 features a carbon fiber roof.

At least BMW is not talking about low-emission and fuel efficiency in their announcement of the new BMW M3. Read more

Posted on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 04:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Talking BMW at CeBit 2007

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German researches show a voice activated BMW in the Future Park at CeBit 2007.

The EU supported TALK project of the Saarland University focuses on the development of new technologies for adaptive multimodal and multilingual human-computer dialogue systems.

To demonstrate their voice solution they integrated it into a BMW car. At the CeBit you can try to select songs on the CD player or ask where the next pizza restaurant with your voice sitting inside the TALK BMW.
Read more

Posted on Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:24:15 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

BMW CLEVER

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The Volkswagen GX3 three-wheeler has the third week in the back, while BMW's CLEVER concept three-wheeler has it in the front - is this cleverer?

BMW collaborates with the University of Bath on the BMW CLEVER. Besides having three wheels the concept car is supposed to have low emissions and a top speed of 50 mph. It is design for urban transport and not for the highway.

Update:
There is actually a similar tilting three-wheeler on the market called Carver One.
Read more

Posted on Sun, 23 Apr 2006 13:49:56 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New BMW iPod Interface

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BMW announces a new iPod interface for their cars.

The new BMW Interface for iPod will be available for owners of the new BMW 3 Series Sedans and Sports Wagons as well as the 5, 6, and 7 Series. It will also be available for the new M5 Sedan and M6 Coupe.
The new Interface is compatible with all iPods with a dock connector, including the iPod nano and the fifth generation iPod.
With the new BMW Interface for iPod drivers can access their entire music library, shuffle songs, skip between tracks and adjust volume, with no loss of sound quality or driving control. Read more

Posted on Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr