BMW BLOG

Deep buried into the press release issued yesterday regarding the new BMW Aerodynamic Center, there was a reference to a new twin-turbo diesel engine which will be available in the near future. Now we don’t know why BMW decided to announce this softly, but bottom line is that we love to see a new powerful and more efficient diesel engine being available.

Now we still expect a new announcement by the end of this year regarding a Tri-Turbo powerful engine, but in the mean time, this new twin-turbo diesel really excites us.

The 3.0 liter diesel engine is matted to an 8-speed transmission and it outputs 306 horsepower an engine speed of 4,400 rpm with peak torque of 600 Newton-meters/442 lb-ft at just 1,500 rpm.

Not the actual engine

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With the risk of coming out as a brag, I have no choice but to say how proud I am that BMW has once again proved why it’s one of the top automobile brands in the world and probably the top engine manufacturer.

The International Engine of the Year Awards feature 11 Awards categories and BMW was awarded three of them: 1.6 liter four-cylinder twin-scroll turbocharged engine in the MINI Cooper S, 3.0 liter straight-six TwinTurbo and 4.0 liter V8.

Once again, congratulations BMW and we look forward to the new three cylinder and six cylinder twin-scroll engines, and last but not least, the quad-turbo engine that we’ve been hearing about.

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BMW has been named Best Car Manufacturer in the prestigious Which? Awards 2009, at the British Museum in London. The company was rated higher than its shortlisted rivals by the members of Which? who number more than a million. Which? is long established as a champion of the consumer and a trusted advisor to buyers of all manner of goods and services, lending particular weight to this award.

Chief Executive of Which?, Peter Vicary-Smith, said: “BMW drivers seem to love their cars with 87 per cent in our survey describing themselves as very satisfied with the ownership experience. The company’s vehicles always excel in our road tests, while BMW’s innovative EfficientDynamics measures mean some of the best cars to drive have also become incredibly fuel efficient.”

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Starting in September 2009, BMW is presenting a truly innovative, cutting-edge technology for voice control in the automobile allowing even more reliable and convenient operation and control of navigation systems and infotainment functions.

Introducing this new system, BMW is raising the driver/vehicle dialogue to a new level of excellence. For the first time, one single voice command is sufficient to completely transmit the driver’s destination into the navigation system. The driver’s verbal statement specifying the place, street and number is processed immediately by the system, all data going directly into the navigation unit.

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For the third month in a row, BMW has outsold Lexus taking the top seller position of luxury vehicles in the United States. Despite the 28% drop from a year earlier, BMW has sold a total of 18,383 vehicles, in contrast with Lexus who reported 16,922 vehicles sold, almost 36% lower sales compared to last year.

The total vehicles sold by in the U.S. this year is 76,819, over 3,000 more cars than Lexus has sold so far. The achievement is even more impress since Lexus has been a leader of the luxury vehicles market for the past nine years. Back in 2000, Lexus took away the first position from the Mercedes-Benz.

Looking at the classic competitors, we see that Mercedes-Benz had a 31% percent decline in sales for the month of May, with a total of 15,134 vehicles sold last month. Overall Daimler’s sales were down 33%, still short of BMW Group’s 28%. (MINI brand included).

Audi, considered by many the most important BMW competitor, achieved an 8.8% share of U.S. imported luxury vehicle sales in May. Audi sold 7,503 units in May overall.

And Acura was down also, a significant dropped compared to last year, 36% down and 9,469 vehicles sold. Infiniti did just a bit worse, 38% drop or 6,496 cars sold.

Overall, another bad month for most of the automakers, with very few showing signs of revival.

[Source: Bloomberg | Photo Credit: CarAdvice Australia ]

A few months back, BMW announced that the BMW Assist technology will add a “Risk of Severe Injury” algorithm to the existing Automatic Collision Notification service. The purpose of this system was to show a more accurate picture for its first-responders when they get to the accident scene. BMW jointly developed the algorithm with the William Lehman Injury Research Center in Miami to better predict the likelihood of severe injury to the car’s occupants in a crash.

Just a few days ago, GM announced a similar technology being integrated into their OnStar system. By introducing the Risk of Severe Injury algorithm on all 2009 models (excluding X3), BMW and the William Lehman Injury Research Center intended to influence the industry, and this announcement is clear evidence of success. The industry is now beginning to try to convince the CDC to update protocols for using injury prediction at Public Safety Answering Points (911 centers). Such widespread adoption & development are the bases on which we repeatedly state that this technology will save thousands of lives. We hope you can see why BMW is so passionate about getting this technology implemented.

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Photo: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

BMW Group announced that starting in June, the two shifts a day schedule at the Leipzig plant will resume to normal. Back in November, due to lower sales and decreased demand, the production was reduce to one shift.

As a surprise, BMW executives mentioned that the demand for the 1 Series models impacted the decision to increase the production. The Leipzig plan will also start building the upcoming BMW X1.

The Leipzig plant employs 2,700 people and in 2008 has manufactured 150,000 automobiles. Beside the 1 Series hatch, coupe and convertible, the plant also builds the 3 Series sedans. In the next few months, the BMW X1 production will start as well.

Last week an interesting news popped up all over the auto sites: Mercedes was looking forward to a a close collaboration with BMW as equal partners. Mercedes-Benz CEO, Dieter Zetsche, had in plants a collaboration with BMW beyond an agreement to bundle purchasing of components. While we had our own concerns regarding such partnership and the equally diminishing of the two brands, there was no BMW official statement dissipating these rumors.

But in an interview with Auto News, Dr. Norbert Reithofer, BMW Chief Executive Officer, stepped up to tackle these rumors. He spoke of merging their financial services operations as a danger to both companies: “There are clear limits. The BMW brand, which one study has valued at $24 billion, must not be diluted or the brand identity damaged”.

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BMW AG has selected GSD&M Idea City, based in Austin TX, as its lead global agency of creative for brand advertising communications. Prior to this decision, the global creative duties were shared among various international marketing agencies, operating independently from several countries across the world. This is the first international account for GSD&M Idea City and BMW represents the highest profile customer at this point.

The Austin based ad agency started working with BMW of North America back in 2005 and the road to this win was quite difficult, several agencies went through extensive competitive reviews.

“We are delighted to have an agency such as GSD&M Idea City with the potential to set further creative benchmarks with BMW global brand communications in the future. We will be working with our partner to continue sharpening BMW’s brand profile through focused and emotional communications,” said Jan-Christiaan Koenders, director brand communication, BMW and group marketing services, in a statement.

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Daimler would like to expand plans for cooperation “as equal partners” with BMW beyond an agreement to bundle purchasing of components, Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche told Reuters.

“In general I only see a few areas where working together is in principle out of the question,” Zetsche said in an interview at Daimler headquarters in Stuttgart’s Untertuerkheim district.

“It’s clear that we are two independent companies whose success in the market depends of the strength of our brands, so brand integrity is a cardinal imperative. This has to be considered at all times but it is not something that would prevent broad cooperation.”

While he would not say what areas were off limits, he explained that Daimler had to ensure that when its customers drive off a dealer lot, they believe they have bought a luxury car with the unique characteristics of a Mercedes.

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