BMW BLOG

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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Recently, Chris Bangle, ex-Chief of Design at BMW, attended a fundraiser event as a guest speaker. He spoke about his design philosophy and sat down to chat with the folks over at MotoBullet.

Here is an excerpt from their article:

“Bangle joined the Wolfsonian for a weekend-long celebration of the car as rolling sculpture. While this idea has been used many times before, the Wolfsonian Museum provides the perfect backdrop to emphasize there is life in industrial design. Located in the art-deco nucleus that is Miami, the Wolfsonian specializes in showing there is personality in bricks, mortar, and metal.

It’s easy to understand why Bangle doesn’t see polarizing elements as design setbacks. He embraces unique vehicles that incorporate elements that go beyond simple function. Life and personality is what he is looking for in his designs. Bangle speaks with enough affection for unique car designs that finishing a car is like creating a child. He gives it unconditional love, flaws and all.
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A very popular food product on the market is Activia Fat Free Yogurt. Lauded for it’s nutritional benefits, many health conscious patrons choose it because it is “Fat Free.”

In actuality, Activia Fat Free yogurt contains 0.4g of fat per 100g serving. You astutely point out that this is a contradiction, but according to legal guidelines, any product with less than 0.5g of fat per serving can be entitled, “Fat Free.”

Certain products or machines have intrinsic details or properties that cannot be removed. These details can be minimized or optimized, but never completely removed by definition. Dairy products will always contain a measure of fat content. Turbos will always contain a measure of lag. We know all about yogurt now, but how little Turbo Lag constitutes ‘No Lag?’

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The Joy campaign continues and BMW finds new ways to engage its fans and not only. From November 6th to 9th, everyone is invited to join BMW at the Welt center and build a BMW X1 out of 2,000 LEGO blocks.

Here are all the details:

2,000 LEGO® blocks. Four days. One construction plan. From November 6th to 9th 2009, the BMW Welt will be transformed into an assembly hall. And you can be involved! All families and children from age 5 are invited to build a full-scale BMW X1 – out of LEGO® bricks.

Whether individually or in groups, everyone will be working together for a good cause: for every LEGO® block used, BMW will donate a sum of money to the Munich children’s foundation “Die Arche”.

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At the SEMA 2009 Show, Local Motors has unveiled a prototype of the Rally Fighter, the off-road racer developed in just 15 months through the innovative crowdsourcing design process. So how is this related to BMW?

Well, the four-seater car is powered by the award winning BMW 3.0 liter twin-turbo diesel engine. The high performance clean diesel delivers 265 hp and 425 pound-feet (576 Nm) of torque at only 1750rpm that are transferred to the rear wheels through a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Putting together the lightweight of the Rally Fighter (3,200 pound/1,450 kg) and the EfficientDynamics 3.0 liter diesel, the fuel consumption is stellar on this prototype: at 30-36mpg (12.8-15.3 km/l) , the Rally Fighter is competing for most efficient in its desert off-road class.

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BMW has released a new BMW TV app for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. It’s available for free at the App Store.

The international video platform BMW TV provides contributions for every field of the premium automobile manufacturer and offers a unique brand experience: The opportunity to stream the latest videos from the BMW TV platform, a video wall with an interactive interface and also the possibility to filter its content according to various criteria. Just start your requested video easily with your fingertip und bookmark interesting videos.

All videos selected from a certain category are displayed one after another and without interruption. Thus you are not only able to enjoy your favorite videos in full length and high quality, but to tell your friends via social media or email about this feature.

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Probably one of the most recognizable slogans amongst car manufacturers around the globe, BMW’s “The Ultimate Driving Machine” tag line,  has served the Munich based company well over the years. Used in North America, the tag line is simple, descriptive, to the point and most important of all, it is identifiable with the brand.

Many companies can certainly come up with clever slogans, but if they don’t “stick” to the brand or transcend the products they represent, then they are lost in a sea of three to five word sentences and it’s back to the drawing board so to speak.

So what is it about BMW’s “The Ultimate Driving Machine” slogan that actually makes it work? Simple, BMW has backed up their claim quite well with cars that are simply thrilling to drive. The slogan, now nearly 34-years-old, was originally created under the reign of Bob Lutz by a relatively unknown ad-agency, Ammirati & Puris.  Ammirati & Puris caught the attention of Lutz by their impressive Fiat ads and it was consider a gamble to go with such an underdog agency.

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The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported October sales of 20,619 vehicles, a decrease of 19.1 percent from the 25,475 vehicles sold in the same month of 2008.  The BMW Group also reported a year-to-date sales volume of 199,838 vehicles, down 23.7 percent compared to 261,802 vehicles sold in the first ten months of last year.

BMW Brand Sales
Sales of BMW brand vehicles decreased 18.6 percent in October for a total of 16,443 vehicles compared to 20,203 vehicles reported in the same month a year ago.  The sales volume met BMW’s expectations for the month and reflected limited inventory of the new 2010 model lineup, which began to arrive at dealerships in the middle of October. Year-to-date, BMW brand sales were down 25.6 percent to 160,666 vehicles compared to 215,836 vehicles sold in the same period of 2008.

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After the post regarding the 320Si, a few of us began to discuss the different merits of the engine and why technologies such as VANOS and Valvetronic were or were not present and even what things we’d like to see on a similar engine. And that got me thinking – what is the favorite BMW engine of the masses?

I drive an E46 3 Series and I’ve got nothing but praise for the M54B25. It’s not the most powerful engine ever made, not by a long shot, but above 3,500 RPMs the engine absolutely comes alive and pulls with all of its might to the 7,000 redline. The engine’s sense of urgency and pull along with the scream it produces at the back makes for an absolutely wonderful driving experience. One of my favorite characteristics of the M54 is the fact that is bullet-proof reliable while also being able to deliver more than satisfying performance. But, while the M54B25 is a great engine in its own right, the S54 is the king of the hill for me.

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Our friend Jonathan Spira over at the Executive Road Warrior went through an unfortunate accident while driving his new BMW 7 Series. We learned in the past about BMW’s safety measurements implemented in their cars and even more evident in the latest generation 7 Series, but truth is that, fortunately, we didn’t go through a similar experience.

Let’s take a look at the incident and how the 7 Series “reacted”:

“In addition, while not perfect, features such as real-time traffic reporting via the navigation system, which provides information about any accidents ahead and other traffic patterns, and head-up display, projecting navigation, road geometry, and speed information in the driver’s field of vision, add to overall safety.

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