2011 has been an extraordinary year for BMWBLOG. We have continued to maintain and grow a great community of BMW fans, and it has been our pleasure to provide you daily BMW news and exclusive reports.

We wrote nearly 1,800 articles that were read by millions of readers that left over 19,000 comments. For this, we would like to thank you.

As the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands continue to evolve and diversify, the amount of content that we will provide will increase exponentially. Expect not only more BMW i news in 2012, but also some exciting M products and new concepts.

As always, your feedback is appreciated and encouraged, we expect you, our readers, to keep us honest and makes us push our boundaries, and grow professionally by delivering even higher quality content.

Thank you once again, Happy New Year and stay tuned next week for some exciting articles!

The new commenting system offers some features that are a crossover between a “regular” commenting setup, a forum and a social network. Our new comments system, provides readers with a large number of advantages:

• Ability to edit your comments
• Ability to sort comments by Newest First, Oldest First, Best Rating and Popular Now
• Ability to share your comments on Twitter and  Facebook
• Ability to login with your Disqus account, Facebook, Twitter, OpenID and Yahoo.
• Ability to subscribe to individual comment threads by email or by RSS. If you subscribe to a thread by email, you can reply to comments in that thread via email.
• Ability to attach an image or a video to your comment simply by including its URL within your comment.
• Ability to like comments and also like or dislike the article
• Ability to flag comments that will go to moderators for review

Let’s have a closer look at some of these features.

To comment on BMWBLOG, you can do so in several ways. If you already have a Facebook, Twitter, OpenID or Yahoo account, you can login using any one of those by clicking on the appropriate linked button for each above the comment box. If you would like to build a profile and a social presence on the site, we recommend creating a Disqus profile. All you need is a valid email address. Having a profile on the site, you will be able to customize in many ways, including adding your Name, Website, Location, Short Bio, Avatar, Facebook account, Twitter name. Furthermore, you can customize your notification settings, you can have the system email you every time there is a new comment in the article you recently left your opinion or you can be notified when someone specifically replies to one of your comments.

Another real value that a profile brings is the ability to track and edit your comments across all websites that use Disqus.

If your comments are proven to be useful, insightful or simply great, other readers will give you “Likes”. Those get counted and your profile will display the number of “Likes” received, a sign of your authority and integrity. By clicking on the Avatar picture, the profile information is displayed, along with all the comments you’ve ever left on the site. We call this transparency.

By clicking on the Community box, you will be able to see the Most Active and Most Liked members, another great way to acknowledge our loyal readers.

From an operational and usability standpoint, we improved the speed of the website by eliminating the refresh of a page each time you leave a comment.

In conclusion, DISQUS encourages conversation and in our opinion, will allow all of us to connect easier and build relationships amongst ourselves. We hope you’ll like it and embrace it.

Stay tuned in the following weeks for further enhancements to your experience on BMWBLOG!

For us, 2010 was an extraordinary year, twelve months where we spent every day delivering the best and most comprehensive BMW news. We worked around the clock, here in the US, but also in Germany (BimmerToday.de) and Romania (BMWBLOG.ro) to bring the BMW news to your doorsteps.

In 2010, we delivered over 2,100 articles, some shorter, others longer and comprehensive; our readers left nearly 21,000 comments, creating a strong community around us and an eco-system around the brand. With over 30 million pages delivered this year, BMWBLOG established itself as an important automotive media outlet, not just in the BMW world, but among other automotive outlets as well.

Beside many other accomplishments, we have attended all the major auto shows, both European and North American, several international car launches, ALMS races, interviewed some of the key people at BMW, even covered competitor’s cars by creating unique photo and specs comparisons, and many other things that we can’t even remember at this moment. We will outline some of our best articles in just a few minutes.

As we promised last year as well, in 2011 we will be pushing the envelope even more, we will bring new content, unique and delivered in many different ways. Detroit Auto Show is our first milestone and we promise you one of the best coverages.

And as a first surprise, we are starting the new year tomorrow with our Shawn Molnar going live on Drive Chicago and NY Morning radio with Paul Brian, Director of Communications Chicago Auto Show, to talk about winter tires and their importance.

In the coming year we expect so many news from Munich, Garching, Oxford and Goodwood and as usual we will report on all major developments.

Thank you again from the BMWBLOG team and we look forward to hearing from you in 2011!

It has been a busy year, without a doubt, but truth is that we could have not done without you. Your comments, feedback and constant interactions with BMWBLOG, has given us the necessary fuel to keep running the largest BMW news website and most likely, the most important automotive blog/magazine that focuses on a particular brand.

So today, it’s all about you. We would like to take the time to thank you all for the continuous support and even the criticism we have received at times. We would also like to wish all of you happy holidays, Merry Christmas or whatever other holiday you may celebrate these days. We are a global magazine and we acknowledge the multitude of cultures and religions that exist.

In 2010, yours truly, along with, in no particular order, Andrew, Shawn, Hugo, Josh, Gabriela, Stjepan and other contributors or collaborators, have brought you the BMW news to your doorsteps and we hope we deliver the daily dose of BMW that we all crave at times.

We hope you will all take the time to enjoy some time off with your family and friends, and if you would like to glance back on BMWBLOG, we will be here. We pretty much run 24/7 all-year-round, so expect the same amount of news delivered between now and the new year. 2011 will start soon for us with the most comprehensive auto show coverage we have ever made.

So stay tuned for Detroit, it will be one of a kind for BMWBLOG.

Thank you!

BMWBLOG Team

Today, BMWBLOG has an strong presence on Facebook and Twitter. Thousands of fans and followers connect daily with us, and from time-to-time, enjoy exclusive and breaking news before they are published on our website.

We also use our Facebook and Twitter pages to offer insight into new BMW models and to preview future events we will attend.

We strongly believe in the open social stream and we encourage our fans and friends to connect with each other, exchange opinions, ideas, even create new podcasts that receive our full support and guidance. We’re also encouraging our readers to connect with us through these channels, ask questions, give feedback and submit news for our consideration.

At times, we come across a BMWBLOG fan that would like to contribute to our vast community and we give them a medium to write and share their opinions.

So today, we encourage you once again to join our community on Facebook and Twitter, we promise to bring even more real-time news and this upcoming Friday, the BMWBLOG community will enjoy some exclusive news.

Without revealing much at the moment, we can tell you that  BMWBLOG will preview on Facebook and Twitter an exciting test drive opportunity that has been granted to us.

Be the first one to hear what BMW is planning for the future.  Stay tuned Friday for the Ultimate BMW Test Drive!

Join us now on Facebook!

Join us on Twitter!

• Facebook Fans

A car company is a living organism – it is made of people. Thus it shares their personalities, their passions, their enthusiasm and their character.

Every once in a while, in the automotive industry, you come across someone who really makes you smile. Someone who can clearly see through the theatrics of the industry around them to the good nature of people they meet. Jack was such a person. Referred to as “BMW’s Creative Powerhouse” by inner circles, he was a charismatic man.

The first time I met Jack, I was taken aback by his down-to-earth smile and welcoming handshake. I had expected a cooler reception from such a high-ranking auto executive – but this was not Jack’s way. He immediately made you feel comfortable in his presence, and showed a sort of honest enthusiasm that was very addictive. It was impossible not to become his friend.

Jack Pitney joined BMW North America in 1995 as head of corporate communications. He later went on to become Vice President and General Manager of the Mini Brand in 2001. While leading Mini, Jack was able to effectively promote the premium compact car brand, and he is ultimately responsible for its great success in the North American market. On the heels of this success, Jack went on to greater heights with BMW, becoming Vice President of Marketing for the BMW Brand in 2005. On Sept 1st of this year, Jack would have went on to become BMW North America’s Eastern region Vice President.

Tragically, Jack Pitney died on August 26th at age 47 in an accident at his family farm in New Jersey.

Today we bring you a tribute to Jack Pitney as remembered by one of his direct employees, Martin Birkmann.

“My first assignment at BMW NA was March 21st 2005. April 1st was Jack’s first day as Vice President of Marketing for the BMW brand. We basically handed each other the door handle. I wasn’t going back to Germany, and Jack was entering the offices at BMW Marketing. In fall 2006 I accepted the assignment as M brand manager and M sports manager. I know Jack. I’d worked with him before and I’d seen what he’d done to the Mini Brand. I think his contributions there are pretty impressive.

So 2006 ended the program on the GTR and we had time to consider what we wanted to do. Back in 2006 everything was open [in racing]. Formula series, prototypes, diesels – we had actually campaigned [diesels] in 2005. This was Jack’s first contribution [to the M racing program] and he was very excited about the diesel racing. On the product side it’s very hard to get diesels in the U.S., and I think you can only see how visionary he was because the success truly justifies the efforts.

On a very small scale, we agreed to run the 25 hours of Thunderhill, that’s a race of interesting coverage, it’s a very amateur level race and a lot of fun and we were asked to support a magazine with ingredients to go racing. I thought initially they believed we would deliver them an M3 or any kind of hot car, but we found it was much more interesting to field two 335d diesels. We raced those, they both finished the race, albeit not on the top of the podium, but I believe we finished 3rd in class and 4th place overall. There was a lot of pure racing machinery around us, Cup cars, open-top racecars, and so – it was quite an accomplishment! When this program came together, Jack said in his usual way when he decides something, with a push on my shoulder, “and You’re going to drive!” “You’re the M brand guy, you’re the motorsport guy, you’ll drive.” And of course, who doesn’t like that? So I loved my new job right from the get-go, and it was a very interesting experience. I remember when we started discussing delivery on the car that Jack had no question what needed to be on the trunk of the 335 diesel race car. It said, “It’s the fuel economy… stupid.” (laughs)

Of course we tried to turn a ‘bigger wheel,’ and the challenge for someone in marketing is that they must outweigh many priorities. In many companies the racing program on a factory level is managed entirely centrally, but since the American Le Mans Series has only a North American region and is not a global series, this meant that we had to fund this out of the marketing budget of BMW North America or basically follow the F1 train that was still running strongly and everyone knows without any judgment that open wheel racing, F1 racing in particular, absent the team, driver and in and out of venue has no bearing. It is also BMW North America’s belief, and Jack’s belief that production car racing is, as Jack would say, “cooler.” You bring a car that people understand, you bring an M3; thank God people know what that is, and you race a yellow, a red, or a silver car or whatever, and everyone knows what that is. It makes sense, when you see the corrals at the race, you get a sense of customer preference. It’s a very American way of racing. It’s casual, it’s friendly, it’s open. It’s unexclusionary. I think it’s almost the diametric opposite of F1. You wouldn’t eat with a plastic plate at a paddock club with the team hospitality in F1. I’m sure the caviar would be able to complete with this pasta though (we sat down to a plate of food for this interview).

We had long discussions through the year of 2007 on what to do, we pitched several teams for proposals. This included Motorsport and then in 2008 Jack and myself were successful to convince the executive board to fund an ALMS racing program based on the car that Motorsport built for us and we were very quick and eager to get the news out and we showed the car in Chicago in 2008. Through out the prep year, we thought about how to activate our audience, and Jack was fully supportive of TV commercials. That is something that I believe we’ve never done in the previous years of BMW NA production car racing – that we had a TV commercial backing our racing effort. We had two running, “Joy is Proving Ourselves to Ourselves” and the stills from Sebring with the teamwork.

Jack was very excited by the racing and by the middle of the season last year, discussion came up about the art car. Jack is extremely well connected in Munich, also with their corporate communications world, and he made it very clear to everyone that in his mind, the only possible platform for an art car could be the GT race car. He believed very strongly in the range and the diversity that mixing art and racing provides, which is true to the original idea, and as such also brought art cars on more than one occasion to the United States. But I think most notable was when we brought the Z4 canvass car to use as a brush to ‘paint the joy’ in December 2008. At the same time, we had already started pushing for the art car initiative for LeMans. We convinced Munich, well, Jack convinced Munich that there was only one possible car to be used, and that was the racing M3 GT. He started to reach out to Jeff Koons and crafted a relationship with him. We saw how beautiful that result was.

I think that Jack always looked for leverage, “how can I get more out of what I’m doing, how can I make it relevant for others and how can I connect?” Jack was a guy who cared a lot about people and he always spent a lot of time imagining how our customers ticked and how he could connect with them. I think the highlight of this endeavor from my perspective as his director of Motorsport was his trip to the 24 hours of LeMans this year. For Jack there was no doubt that we would see this car running. After we put the art car in front of him and removed other considerations out of the process I was ready to watch the race – but Jack would never rest… he proposed a competition of who could post more photos on face book and get the better captions and count the reader comments, the thumbs up and the thumbs down; it was a great trip! It was great to see to full completion what he had started.

He got so infected with the racing bug that he ultimately made track appearances a priority. He was in Lime Rock and brought the family with him. That’s always the challenge for an executive, to combine private and professional life. But he brought his family with him and they were all excited and enamored with the experience at the race and the racing track, and BMW’s presence and spirit that you could sense. He also went to attend the Petit Le Mans race and he was very proud of the team. He was very proud of the team and overjoyed with the season’s first victory just last weekend and there is nothing more that I wish than to fulfill his desire to complete the 2010 season winning the Championship. He deserves that.”

- BMW went on to claim victory in the 2010 ALMS Championship -

The wheel cracked, tire blown, front end needs a new paint job and the strut was cracked open. This was the official story.

The owner took the liberty to go check the accident site and found out that the 20 mph test drive was most likely a…fast drive that turned ugly.

Without taking any sides here, we will continue reporting some of the facts as described by the owner. The dealership estimated the cost for parts at around $2,500, without the paint job. Lawyers and insurance companies got involved, but the owner decided to take this matter a step further.

He took his M5 to another dealership which after carefully inspecting the car, they found a broken strut, borked inner brace, bent steering gear assembly, damaged rear suspension many instances of body damage, in total about $14,000 in parts and another $16,000 in labor.

The story is still developing and the owner continues to seek legal advice, hoping for a favorable result. We decided to hold off on the name of the dealership, but we reached out for an official statement and we will update the article as we learn more.

[Source: M5board ]

The MPi-EDGE/World Class Inspection software is developed by Mobile Productivity. Dealers who sign up to use this program are offered a special program subsidy, and pricing for the product is based on dealership size and number of users.

Although this is not mandatory, BMW encourages the dealers to check if MPi’s program is suitable for their service departments. What BMW is trying to achieve through this initiative is to increase the number of multi-point vehicle inspections by making it easier and faster for service technicians to conduct them.

The MPi system allow mechanics to use handheld devices to check off formatted inspection points on a mobile screen, and at the end, it produces a report describing what is working well and what isn’t, including also a list of repairs needed and the corresponding costs.

The program is intended to increase the number of repair orders, the service and parts profits, and to improve customer satisfaction by keeping clients’ cars in good and safe running order.

The MPi system also allows mechanics to conduct more thorough inspections and to do a better job explaining the customers what are the repairs needed. This leads also to an average $100-$125 in additional needed repairs per inspection, therefore boosting the sales of parts in BMW shops and allowing shops to increase their profits.

According to the same report, MPi’s vehicle-inspection program includes the EDGE software system; two customized, customer friendly reports called “Recommended Action Plan” and “Know Your Vehicle”; management reporting and analysis capabilities; consulting and training services; and process and performance metrics.

[Source: AutoWard]

According to BMW, thanks to specially reinforced side walls and additional lateral strengthening, the run-flat tires continue to perform their function even if all air pressure is lost, and you can continue driving for up to 150-250 km (depending on the model) at a speed of up to 80 km/h without any significant loss in vehicle stability.

AutoWeek brings up an interesting report about BMW and the run-flat systems. The report mentions that the Bavarian automaker has embraced this technology more than any other car manufacturer in the world.

BMW has been moving the majority of its lineup to ride on run-flat tires, starting with the 2003 models of the Z4 and the 5-series. As new models were developed the normal radial tire in a BMW was less and less preferred to the run-flat one. Today, the only models which continue to be fitted with traditional performance rubbers are the M cars.

Tom Baloga, BMW’s vice president of engineering, points out that the main concern is safety since changing a tire along the side of the road is quite dangerous. Other main reasons for adopting these systems and dropping the spare tire were the space used by the latter and the race for reducing vehicle weight.

Run-flats are also considered by the automaker to be a “green” choice, as this involves reducing tire usage by 20 percent, and hence saving millions of tires and the natural resources and energy needed to make them.

There are also downside effects to the usage of run-flat tires. AutoWeek points out that these systems don’t perform like “normal” radial tires, delivering a harsher ride than conventional tires, and adding unsprung weight to the vehicle. Price is also an important element since run-flats are approximately 20 to 30 percent more expensive than a conventional tire.

Dunlop, Michelin and Bridgestone are only some of the tire producers who adopted this system, and they continually struggle to develop the technology; Bridgestone for example is currently selling its third generation of run-flats.

In the meantime it seems that radial tires are still preferred by a lot of consumers whose main concern remain the poor ride of the car with run-flats.

However, in the future it is expected that the technology will be improved at a level where the differences between the two systems would be less noticeable.

[Source: AutoWeek ]

Emotion Wheels upgraded the 4.4 liter V8 twin-scroll engine from the X6 M and it now produces 707 horsepower. The upgrade was made with a few tricks to the turbocharged V8 engine and some slight adjustments made to the chassis and suspension in order to handle the powerful upgrade. They also installed a modified sport exhaust system that also contributes to this power boost a bit.

The tuner has not released any performance data for the car, but we expect it to be quite faster than the standard M3 which only needs 4.8 seconds to reach 62 mph (100 km/h) and offers an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h).

The Emotion Wheels BMW M3 E92 also received a couple of styling enhancements and it features a new carbon bonnet which weight only 8.6 kg and adds a great visual effect and new side sills.

A H&R suspension is fitted to lower the ride height. 19 inch Wasabi matte black alloys with polished outer ring are wrapped in high performance tires.

No pricing has been announced at this time.

First phase of the project gave us the Arkym Trunk and Hood for the M3 sedan, but today, they are finally unveiling the same AeroRace kit for the M3 Coupe. The BMW M3 Coupe Arkym AeroRace Kit includes full double side carbon for both hood and trunk and a vent on the hood that is fully functional with better hot air flow out.

All the design work is original and Arkym prides themselves by combining form, function and aerodynamic theory with industry standard materials and production efficiency. ARKYM ArkTek products plan to break the rules of 100% original design and affordability.

Pricing and full details are around the corner, and pre-orders can be done through PYSpeed.com.

Therefore, we decided to help as much as we can today and to tell you more about Speedway Children Charities – Texas Chapter. Race fans need to look no further than eBay to get the chance to enjoy a parade lap ride with IZOD IndyCar Series drivers during the Firestone 550k pre-race festivities that will benefit the Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Chapter.

Beginning on Thursday, fans can visit www.ebay.com/scctexas to bid on the opportunity to ride around during the parade laps with Dan Wheldon, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Will Power, Milka Duno, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Sarah Fisher. The auctions for Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and Sarah Fisher will end Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. and the remaining auctions will end Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 11:59 p.m.

Speedway Children’s Charities also will offer the opportunity to purchase parade laps with Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti during a live auction at the Life in the Fast Lane Condo Tour and Progressive Feast on Thursday, June 3, at the Lone Star Tower. A limited number of spots for the event are available at $275 for couples and $150 for individuals.

To purchase, tickets contact Speedway Children’s Charities at (817) 215-8421 or visit www.scctexas.org.

This year’s One Lap is a joint adventure with the BMW United Roswell, represented by Steve Maguire, one of the drivers of the X6 M as well, and the sponsor of our several contests held during the competition.

Last week’s contest gave everyone the opportunity to win a BMW branded keyfob, an 8 GB USB Stick, one of these nifty things that any geek and BMW lover would like to have.

The One Lap BMW X6M ran at Mid Ohio and their official time was 5:21.808. The closest to the team’s elapsed time was Jon G. with 5:21, and therefore, he becomes the winner of the BMW branded USB keyfob.

Congratulations Jon G.!

BMW Steve’s daughter was quoted as saying:

“He was a car enthusiast all his life, he loved cars from a child,” Steve’s daughter told the Daily Mail. “When Mum was in labour with me, my Dad was outside fixing the nurse’s car and got a page when it was time to come inside. He always drove BMWs, we’ve all got them. We couldn’t just give him a normal headstone.”

While this isn’t necessarily something I would want for myself – to each there own and I respect BMW Steve’s dedication, even in the afterlife, for the Bavarian Motor Werks.

Unfortunately, some of the relatives of the patrons of the same cemetery don’t necessarily agree with the choice of a black, 2,200 lbs M3 made of granite for a marker. Those outspoken few feel that the tombstone detracts from the nature of the cemetery and its intended use as a place . Tasteful or not, it was quite expensive a venture to have the English-designed, Chinese-manufactured tombstone placed with it coming to a grand total of $75,000 – the cost of a new, well-optioned M3 Convertible.

As we said, we respect BMW Steve’s enthusiasm for the brand and his unrelenting dedication to a marque which he loved so much. BMW Steve is proof that you can still take it with you!

Cheers to BMW Steve!

(Source: Daily Mail via Jalopnik)

We simply called it “The Ultimate Classifieds for BMW Fans”.

We are opening BimmerList to everyone, from private parties to dealerships and other businesses, in line with our goal to connect everyone and offer a single online place where even rare BMW vehicles or parts can be found. In the end, BMW fans and owners will come to value more an E30 with 30,000 miles that pops up out of nowhere on BimmerList, and hopefully, it will speed up the buy or sale. But make no mistake, we are also trying to offer to those new to the brand a place where they can simply search through a large inventory of BMWs and even ask questions that hopefully our community and sellers can answer.

Certain listings will be cross-referenced on BMWBLOG.com in predefined, highly visible positions, therefore more exposure and value to those that are looking to sale, bu also, an easier way for buyers to find the deals they are looking for.

Pricing

Initially for 30 days, BimmerList.com will be FREE of charge and everyone is welcome to take advantage of this introductory period to list their cars or parts. After this initial period of time, BimmerList will move towards a LOW flat fee rate model that will vary from one category of listings to another. Bulk listings packages will be offered as well, based on on individual needs.

Why BimmerList and how does it work?

1. BimmerList will simply use a Craigslist model where we are simply providing an online medium where transactions can be listed, but WITHOUT any involvement in our part in the sales negotiations or pricing. All the transactions will be handled solely by the buyers and seller.
2. By offering a flat fee pricing approach, we would like to build a quality inventory of listings that will be free of spam and actually provide value to those that would like to sell. Buyers will NOT be charged for any transactions.

As with any new project, we are still in a beta stage, therefore some functionality could be added or removed, so your input will be appreciated. We are also refining our categories listings and if you believe we are missing any or need a different structure, please, feel free to let us know and we will consider your input.

We hope you will join us in this new adventure and also, help us spread the word and build the largest online classifieds for the BMW community.

Thank you and welcome!

This year’s One Lap is a joint adventure with the BMW United of Roswell, represented by Steve Maguire, one of the drivers of the X6 M as well. You have already had the chance to see multiple videos and photos from the road, but to make things even more interesting, we would like to create a few contests throughout the event and offer prizes from United BMW Roswell, such as the new BMW USB Keyfob and BMW Bluetooth earpiece.

So here we go. Today’s prize, a BMW branded keyfob that in fact is an 8 GB USB Stick, one of these nifty things that any geek and BMW lover would like to have. To enter the contest, all you have to do is to guess the number of miles the X6 M team has traveled from their departure in Spartanburg, SC until they return in 10 days.

To accomplish this task, we decide to share with you a tip: in this article, you have outlined all the locations where the races will take place this year. The entries will be captured until May 10th at 11:59PM. The winner will be announced on May 10th.
Good luck!

The ink is hardly dry on the pages of this 2010 book and yet the story is as old as time; hubris followed by a fall. While focusing on GM and Chrysler, this book does look at Ford and Honda in relation to them. Also square in the cross-hairs is the role of the UAW in the debacle that has become American auto manufacturing.

Success paved the way for GM’s failure, not to mention a generation’s worth of bad management and spending decisions. Alfred Sloan is considered by many to be the father of the modern corporate model. GM had the world on a string in post WW II America. They could hardly do any wrong, but the seeds of their destruction was sown with poor negotiating of labor contracts and compromising the integrity of the individual brands.

GM’s decision to ‘badge engineer’ models in the ’70s and ’80s led to a cheapening of the upper end of GM’s model range. All you have to do is remember the Cadillac Cimarron. Management was insulated and inbred. The UAW was feared (in particular the irascible Steve Yokich) and subsequently labor harmony was purchased at a steep price (which would not be paid in full until after the meltdown in 2009). They had chances to turn things around, as late as the mid-’90s, but they continued to kick the hard decisions down the road. Those missed opportunities, including a chance to literally break the UAW, sealed their fate. I am more than willing to discuss a litany of GM stupidity with anyone over a beer. (Too many brands, wrong mix of brands at dealerships, Saturn S cars, the decision to make Pontiac GM’s BMW (when Pontiac said, ‘We Build Driving Excitement’, it didn’t mean they built good driving cars, but that their cars’ styling excited the potential Pontiac buyer – a lesson they FORGOT), and the complete failure to care for the image of Saab – a crying shame.)

While suffering the same labor issues as GM, Chrysler’s story, in my eyes, is one of poor product planning. Once the luster wore off the mini-van it’s as if Chrysler was lost in the wilderness. The merger of Daimler and Chrysler did neither company any good (and Juergen Scrempp paid the price for his indiscretions with his job). In the end the lack of product killed Chrysler. If Fiat hadn’t seen them as a return to the US market they wouldn’t have offered to take Chrysler off the gumints hands (virtually for free of course). In reality, Chrysler probably should have ceased operations. The only thing left of value at Chrysler was the iconic Jeep name.

As for Ford, they were on the edge of requesting government help along with GM and Chrysler. But to have gone through Chapter 11 would have deprived the Ford family any further control over the company. A prospect that couldn’t be contemplated. Bill Ford made some very difficult, smart, and brave decisions in releasing Jac Nasser, firing himself later, and then hiring Alan Mulally as CEO, that quite possibly saved the company. Those decisions coupled with the sale of Jaguar/Aston Martin and Volvo were the difference between autonomy and dependence.

At the end of the day – and sharing equally in the shame of the downfall of the Big Three – is the UAW. With the byzantine work rules they insisted on and, more recently, the incredibly mind-blowing Jobs Banks, they managed to redefine myopia.

Paul Ingrassia manages to take what ordinarily would be dry material, infuses it with humor, great stories of the impact to real people in the industry (from UAW line workers, dealers, and management), and careful research to turn out a compelling read. He also manages to contrast the goings on in the big three with the competition (he spends a great deal of time discussing Honda and their US operations). It’s well worth picking up a copy. One item that I particularly enjoyed was the discussion of ‘dagmars’. It, and other insider items, showed that Mr. Ingrassia had done his homework.

But, in light of the recent discussion of ‘Is BMW Becoming GM’, I’d ask that you read this book, and/or Maryann Keller’s much earlier work, “Rude Awakening”, or, “Call Me Roger”, by Albert Lee, and then Brady & Lorenz’s, “End of the Road: BMW and Rover – A Brand Too Far”, to understand just how different the two companies are.

This week, our own Andrew Murphy and Hugo Becker joined Christiaan Conover at this team over at RoundelTable for our first podcast.

In this podcast episode on RoundelTable, we discussed the new BMW Gran Coupe Concept, the 5 GT, BMW the most sustainable automotive company, MINI E/MegaCity and much more.

This is our first podcast and we are looking forward to more episodes, and better ones, but for now, please accept our apologies for the lengthy recording. We plan in the future to keep the discussion short and sweet, and usually not more than 30 minutes. With RoundelTable’s help, we plan to facilitate a live chat discussion during the podcast session.

Our next podcast will feature our own Shawn Molnar who will tell us all about his latest test drives, including the X6 Hybrid, 5 GT, 335is, Z4 35is, ALPINA B7 and many many more.

We hope you enjoy this new step we have taken and stay tuned for more surprises.

Without any further ado, let’s have a look at Vivid Racing’s project.

“Vivid Racing has continued the horsepower possibilities with this all new twin turbo upgrade for the BMW 135I N54 engine. Have spent some time behind the wheel of our Project 135I, we wanted to develop a turbo upgrade that would not take out the stock look, feel, and functionality of the BMW engine.

For someone that wants the next stage in performance once all the support mods are done, this kit by Vivid Racing is it! This upgrade utilizes the OEM Mitsubishi TD03 turbos which are then modified with a new compressor wheel and a 7 degree turbine clip. BMW successfully eliminated turbo lag with the design of these turbos, however left alot of room to gain on the mid to top end RPM range. Where the stock turbos fall flat, this turbo upgrade will have your car pushing Porsche like 0-60 times and 1/4mile times.

By modifying the compressor and clipping the turbine wheel, we are able to gain as much as 60HP to the crank over the stock turbochargers with supporting mods. The cost of associated with this turbo upgrade is based off of a core charge. We have turbos available already upgraded or you can send your turbos to be modified.

If you choose to use our core exchange program, you will be billed an additional $3500 for the cost of new turbos. This amount will be refunded to you upon receipt of your original turbos back. The process to modify the turbos requires precision machining and a complete dissasembly to rebuild the turbos. This means that even the cores are like getting new units.

To maximize the power, you will need additional power parts to take advantage of what these turbos can do. We highly recommend the following items: Agency Power Downpipes, Agency Power Midpipes, Agency Power Muffler, Agency Power Intercooler, Injen Intake System, Upgraded Fuel Components.”

The turbo upgrade kit can be found here

The Concept certainly brings out an attractive look, carrying forward the next generation CLS language previewed in the Mercedes F800 Style. The rear end offers a more pronounced coupe look than seen on the 5 GT, with a tall roof.

While the car introduced is at a Concept level, the expectations are the final product will be close to this prototype. Engine wise, the expectations are that we will see a turbocharged and direct injected 3.5-liter V6 engine with over 300 horsepower along with an uplevel turbocharged 4.6-liter V8 that puts out around 435 horsepower and over 400 pound-feet of torque. Those engines will reportedly provide a 25-percent improvement in fuel efficiency over the mills they replace and will route power to the rear wheels through a seven-speed automatic transmission.

The Mercedes SLS AMG will feature a 5.5-liter V8 turbocharging and direct injection engine that outputs 563 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque.

Clearly this unique, but highly profitable car segment will get crowded in time and offerings from other premium automakers are expected soon. The BMW 5 Series GT sales in North America have already exceeded the initial expectations and reports coming from Europe are just as encouraging.

Is this a winner takes all segment? Most likely not, so we expect the two German automakers to retain their customer base without much crossing over.

Mercedes Benz CLS Shooting Break Concept

BMW 5 Series GT