BMW BLOG

Nearly five months ago, a rumor around the MINI and Rolls Royce brands showed up on our radar. Autocar reported that Rolls Royce is working on a super high-end MINI vehicle manufactured at the Goodwood plant. Rolls-Royce will focus on upgrading the MINI’s interior bringing to the standards of a luxury car.

At the time, sources close to MINI gave the insight scoop to Autocar UK fellows who report that the project was close to getting the green light. Some spy photos of a late prototype were posted at that time as well.

Two days ago, Autocar returned with the confirmation that MINI by Rolls Royce will indeed make into production. Highly placed sources at BMW have told Autocar that the cars will “totally individual” and the project is seeking to create “niche vehicles” for customers.

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The Nürburgring’s Nordschleife is widely regarded as the most spectacular, most challenging and longest race track in the world. Just a few weeks ago, we posted some photos of the BMW Ring-Taxi, an M5 model used for those who want to experience the “Green Hell” by lapping the circuit in the passenger seat.

The M5 Ring-Taxi is available for anyone out there based on availability and at extra charge. Today, the fellows over at Autogespot spotted a different kind of Ring-Taxi, a knock-off of the M5, based on the BMW M3 Coupe. The car features an interesting paint, more of a vinyl covering the exterior that reminds of a police vehicle.

The Ring-Police is a company belonging to professional race driver Jan Erik Slooten who drives in the Porsche Carrera Cup. According to the info on a german website, his company offered back in October laps for paying passengers at a 130 euro per lap.

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In September at the Frankfurt Motor Show, BMW unveiled their latest 7 Series model with the aggressive M Sport package. The BMW 740d with M Sport package comprises an Aerodynamics Package as well as additional chrome trim on the specially designed front and rear aprons, illuminated M entry trim and BMW Individual High-Gloss Shadow Line. The dynamic look of the car is rounded off by 19-inch M light-alloy wheels in double-spoke design featuring different-sized tyres front and rear. As an option there are also 20-inch M light-alloy wheels in double-spoke design, again with different tire sizes front and rear.

A few months later, European Auto Source, a California based company, unveils their own version of the BMW 7 Series M Sport.  The gorgeous 7er features a 2010 OEM M-sport front bumper conversion with matte black, Style 312 OEM BMW 21″ wheels in matte black, matte black side grilles and kidney grilles, body color door handles, body color trunk trim and matte black OEM rear diffuser.

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One of the most unusual comparisons and one that we would see moving forward, is between the newly launched BMW 5 Series GT and Mercedes-Benz highly controversial R Class, R350 Blue Tec.

While some us believe that the two cars are not really competing for the same customers, the german journalists at Autozeitung decided to put the cars head-to-head.

BMW 530d GT is powered by a 3.0 liter straight-six diesel engine outputting 245 horsepower at 4,000 rpm and 540 Nm/398 lb-ft from 1,750–3,000 rpm. Still a rear-wheel drive vehicle, the 530d GT uses an 8-speed automatic transmission. As tested by Autozeitung, the 530d GT runs from o-62 mph in 6.8 seconds and it’s limited to 240 km/h (149 mph). Average fuel consumption to the EU standard is measured at 6.5 liters/100 kilometers – 36.8 MPG.

The price of the 530d GT as tested by the german magazine is 55,200 euros.

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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety issued a press release last night announcing 2010’s Top Safety Picks. Several auto makers made the list, but to our surprise and many others, BMW was absent from this list. Along with BMW, Toyota dropped from the top pick list as well.

As expected, the top created some controversy and confusion. Several automobile publications rushed to publish their article pointing out not necessarily the winners, but rather the companies that didn’t make the list.

A natural question arises: why is BMW missing from this list? This is actually because no BMWs were tested for the new IIHS roof-crush test (yet). In February of this year, the IIHS surprised the industry by announcing a new roof-crush test which caused some vehicles (11 Toyotas, most notably) to drop from the TSP listing. More on the test from the IIHS website:

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eBay is well known for some of the most eccentric deals one can see on the internet and when it comes to cars, nothing surprises us anymore.

The 1988 BMW 6 Series Coupe displayed below doesn’t only impress by its 315HP 3.5-liter inline six-cylinder engine from the 1992 M5 E45 and a manual gearbox, but only by its price tag: $250,000. Yes, that 25 and about four more zeros.

After days of sitting with no offers, the buyer decided to lower the price to $45,000, a far more acceptable price range, but suddenly, the offer was reversed back to the original.

Why? Here is what the owner had to say:

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There is no surprise anymore that BMW plans on launching several other hybrid models in the future. The new ActiveHybrid 7 and ActiveHybrid X6 were the first to BMW hybrids to make into production and other several ones are waiting their turn.

The next generation 1 Series has been rumored to feature a hybrid version as well, part of the EfficientDynamics program and BMW’s plans to improve the fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions in their fleet.

For the first time, spy photographers managed to photo capture a current 1 Series hatchback test mule featuring a hybrid sytem. The vehicle caught was wearing a “Hybrid Test Vehicle” badge as we’ve seen before on the X6 and even X5 test mules.

While not officially confirmed, we can assume that the 1 Series will feature the mild hybrid system seen in the X6, a modular setup with a motor/generator placed between the engine and transmission. Of course, a lithium ion battery will be strategically placed in the trunk.

Full photo gallery at Autoblog.com

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Speaking of BMW’s with electric motors and hybrids, we thought it might be a good time to revisit one of BMW’s most notable hybrids – the MINI E. We’ve already tried it once before when it first debuted last year but recently we had a chance to take a short second look at the car to see what we thought a year later.

I press the start button – wait – nothing. I pull the key fob out, wait, put it back in and press the start button. I do this a few more times before I happen to press the start button and catch the gauge in front of me bounce up to life.

OK, so I’ve managed to successfully turn on the MINI E after about 1 minute of trying. It’s not that the fully electric MINI is broken or has issues, it is just that quiet when you’re turning over a car that has no cylinders to fire up and runs strictly on a massive battery pack sitting amidship the little coupe. It literally makes no sounds if the radio is off upon start up – eerily efficient.

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We have been debating on whether we should post this article or not, but in the end, the urge of getting your feedback won. Before we jump into the article, we would like to say from the beginning that our intention is not to put the rendering artist in a bad light, but rather to point out some facts.

Dave Cardoso, a graphic artist from Belgium, created new renderings of what a future generation BMW M6 could look like, of course, all based on his ideas.  While we can’t deny his rendering skills or 3D modeling, we can’t say that we’re big fans of his work. Clearly the images below show us a car that has no ties to BMW’s past, current and future design language and if it wasn’t for the kidney grille, it could have passed for any other brand out there.

Yes, we’re aware that this is most likely a design exercise as many we have seen before, but truth is that we would like these artists to learn more about BMW’s design history and future plans, and ultimately come up with some viable solutions.

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The BMW ActiveHybrid X6 will arrive in US showrooms right on the heels of its North American debut at the Los Angeles International Auto Show.  The one-of-a-kind Sports Active Coupe featuring two-model hybrid technology will be available beginning December 5, 2009 with a base MSRP of $89,725, including destination and handling.

In addition to BMW’s interpretation of two-mode hybrid technology, mated to the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 the price includes a number of standard features which are optional on the X6 xDrive50i. These include a unique 7-speed automatic transmission, Extended Nappa leather (including the dashboard and center console), 20-inch Aero Wheels with mixed-sized performance tires, Rearview camera with Top View and Head-up display.

The full list of additional standard features is included below.  In addition to the very extensive list of standard equipment, there are a handful of options to tailor the BMW ActiveHybrid X6 to individual tastes.  These are also listed below.

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