This new orange guy is the new Beamer M3 GTS. It has a 4.4 liter V8, and a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox that is capable of 450 horsepower. It weighs in at 3285 lbs (1490 kg) and it has a price point of $170,000.

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It may be one of the most awesome ideas to hit a car in a long time, but BMW’s got a line of cars–specifically, the 7-series Sedan–with a whole slew of options, the most interesting of which is easily the night vision option.

Why is it so interesting, you ask?  Well, it’s not REALLY night vision at all, not in the conventional sense.  See, in standard night vision, specialized components collect and amplify ambient light, thus allowing one to see where there was entirely too little light to see by before.  While the BMW night vision DOES get some augmentation from the headlights, its primary imaging source is a thermal camera, making this more of a heat-detection system rather than a night vision system.

I’m not saying that this isn’t useful–far from it!  Living in an area that sees HUGE amounts of car-deer collisions every year, I’d love to be able to see those stupid things coming by something a little more reliable than my high beams.  But it’d cost more to get the device than it would to replace my car…it’s part of an option package that can add upward of twenty six thousand bucks to the price of an already-salty BMW.

Tags: 7 series, BMW, car deer collision, heat detection, Night Vision, option package, thermal camera

BMW formally unveiled its BMW Z4 Roadster in India today, possibly on the way towards increasing the number of BMW cars in the region. The BMW Z4 Roadster officially came out at an event in Mumbai, offering a new classy and luxury sports coupe that should be a wise choice for the classy motorists over there.

The BMW Z4 will come in a 3 liter six-cylinder in-line petrol engine with Twin Turbo technology, High Precision injection and an all-aluminum crank case. The Z4 will also come in 6 paint finishes Alpine White, Black Sapphire, Deep Sea Blue, Orion Silver, Space Grey, and Titanium Silver. For upholstery, customers can have choose from Leather Kansas Black, Leather Kansas Canberra Beige, and Leather Kansas Coral Red. The BMW Z4 Roadster will retail for about 59 lakh rupees.

(Source) Auto Tantra

Tags: alpine white, black leather, bmw cars, bmw z4, bmw z4 roadster, crank case, deep sea blue, luxury sports, motorists, precision injection, sports coupe, titanium silver, turbo technology, wise choice

While we broke the tale of the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics way back in September, some fresh news has emerged to make the whole thing a lot more interesting.

Specs have recently hit, and they’re downright amazing: it’s a plug in hybrid with a three cylinder turbo diesel, it gets zero to a hundred km/h in 4.8 seconds, and its total gas mileage is right around sixty two miles per gallon.

Frankly, this car is amazing no matter how you slice it.  it’s got incredible numbers on its side, and it’s easily one of the sexiest plug-in hybrids on the market.  After looking at the frumpy hausfrau that was the Toyota Prius (which will, by all accounts, still look like a shaved brick on wheels for the next couple of years at least), it’s downright liberating to get a look at the shapely, vaguely Lamborghini styled BMW Efficient Dynamics.  A sixty two mile per gallon car that looks like that?  Almost too good to be true.

Tags: BMW, BMW Vision Effcient Dynamics, hybrid, plug in hybrid, plug in hybrid car

It’s not every day that we look at motorbikes or scooters here but today we have an electric scooter from BMW. It would appear that BMW is ready to embrace electricity. At least when scooters are concerned of course! But can we assume BMW is planning to roll out more electric cars in the future?

The C1E in the picture here is the electric version of the previous gas C1. It will go from 0 to 50 in 7 seconds while the top speed of it is 62mph. Not bad for an electric scooter. The C1E maintains the same safety features its predecessor had to offer: roll cage with windscreen and seat belt. That means that whenever you’re going to fall, you’re likely to stay strapped to the scooter, crush a knee and dislocate a shoulder in the process. Or am I the only one getting this the wrong way?

We might not even get a chance to test it out since this scooter is only a test prototype which will never go into mass production. What are your thoughts on the C1?

via SUSA

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Showcased in the above video is the BMW Simple Concept vehicle that apparantly reaches “200 km/h, while using less than 2 liters of fuel per 100 km.” The concept now calls the BMW Museum in Munich its new home where it will be put on display for all to see.

Anyways, there isn’t much I could tell you that isn’t said in the above video so just check it out and be sure to tell us what you think of it in the comments.

via worldcarfans

Tags: BMW, munich, simple concept

Recent reports have surfaced that BMW has a brand new 0 Series in the works based on the Mini platform. Seeing as the entire Mini lineup is, well, mini we’re going to guess that this new 0 Series will be a quite small one.

The need for such a series apparently came about by the demands of consumers looking for increasingly smaller vehicles. You know, the smaller the car, the better gas mileage? Yeah, that kind of thing. Further reports suggest that there will be several vehicles in the 0 Series lineup including a 3-door and 5-sdoor hatback along with some sort of convertible model.

As always, we’ll keep you posted.

via motoringfile

Tags: 0 series, BMW, Mini, platform, rumor

You know, I’ve taken a look at my car more than once and, despite the fact that it gets a decent twenty eight miles per gallon highway, I’ve said that most of the time, I don’t need the whole car to do things.  I live maybe five miles from the nearest post office.  Almost ten from the nearest video store and about twelve from the movie theater.  Don’t get me started how far I have to go for a decent plate of Olive Garden.  I can’t just walk or bicycle everywhere, but I don’t need the cargo space my car affords half the time.

But the boys at BMW have apparently heard my lament, because they’ve come up with the half-car, half-motor scooter C1-E.  This all electric vehicle doesn’t require a helmet to drive (at least in Europe) because of its roll cage and reinforced front nose.

I doubt you’ll be able to get this in the US any time soon, but it’s still pretty awesome, either way.

Tags: BMW, BMW C1-E, Car, Electric, electric car, electric scooter, scooter

If you love BMW and you’re a 5 Series fan then you should try to get one as fast as possible as it looks like the company is thinking about stopping production of the current 5 Series. BMW is already thinking of future models so it might become really difficult for you to actually get your hands on any of the 5 Series Bimmers. Dealers have precise instructions to take “special orders” only as BMW has already stopped taking orders for the E-60 5 Series sedan and wagon. On the other hand, you could always ignore these models of the 5 Series and get ready to get the new models. Apparently the GT version is going to hit the street sometime by the end of the year.

via BimmerFile

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BMW’s first sports activity coupe will now be available in Jaipur after the announced new dealership facility, Sanghi Classic. As BMW starts to pick up in saturating the Indian market, the coming of the BMW X6 sports coupe couldn’t have come at a better time. Boasting of versatile and exceptional vehicle quality, the BMW X6 is expected to fit in smoothly with local road conditions.

The BWM X6 comes equipped with features like the Dynamic Performance Control. It comes in two variants: the petrol model, BMW X6 xDrive50i and the diesel model, the BMW xDrive30d.

(Source) Auto Tantra

Tags: better time, bmw x6, bwm, dynamic performance, first sports, jaipur, local road, model bmw, performance control, road conditions, sports activity, sports coupe, vehicle quality

Recent reports suggest that BMW is gearing up to send the V10 engine featured in their current generation M5 to the great beyond and instead replace it with a turbocharged V8.

Sure, the V10 is fast, that’s not secret, but the fact that it’s just about everything besides environmentally friendly has left BMW with no choice but to turn towards greener alternatives such as the above mentioned turbocharged V8.

If these reports are true, we should be seeing the a turbocharged V8 engine appear in the next generation M5 with right around 555 HP and 500 lb-per-feet of torque.

via autoblog

Tags: BMW, m5, report, turbocharger, v10, V8

Admit it, it does look weird, but you’d definitely want to be seen driving this BMW Lovos. The car is not available for purchase yet and it might never be made but it’s definitely entertaining. Anne Froschner, a Pforzheim University graduate has designed the Lovos or the Lifestyle of Voluntary Simplicity. The car looks like an animal or a fish and it would be constructed out of the same exchangeable part which is used 260 times. Each such part comes with a photovoltaic cell on the exterior and a hinge that would help it move after the sun or act as an air brake in case you need one.

via cardesign

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Opinions regarding the looks of the 5 Series Grand Turismo are usually pretty clean cut in the sense that you either love it or hate it. Well, if you are one who loves the design but don’t want to make the 5 Series jump you are in luck as recent reports suggest that BMW is also working on a 3 Series hatchback.

There aren’t many details regarding this 3 Series hatchback other than that it is expected to launch sometime before 2011 and the assumption that it will feature diesel and gasoline trims.

However, like always, we’ll keep you posted.

via autoblog

Tags: 3 Series, 5 Series, grand turismo, Hatchback, report, rumor

I suppose it might come as a surprise, if you haven’t read a newspaper or watched any TV in the last six months or so, that the luxury car market is collapsing.  But what’ll really surprise you is the depth to which it’s falling.  For instance, the total sales for luxury car sales this year has fallen fully one third from this time last year.

A third of the market, just gone.  That’s bad enough for anybody, but he luxury car makers aren’t taking this lying down, no sir or ma’am as the case may be.

A recent BMW marketing push, for example, pointed out that its diesel sedans were the most fuel-efficient in their class.  And Bentley offered up incredible financing rates on its catastrophically priced car that was almost the same deal as a GM pickup’s rate.

I’m not really surprised that luxury car makers are finding things tough in the new economy–when pundits bust out lines like “frugal is the new black”, you really have to wonder about the whole mess.  But this may be a sign of much more systemic weakness in the overall economy, and that’s something we’ll all have to watch for.

Tags: Bentley, BMW, fuel effciiency, GM, luxury car, luxury car market

I don’t know about you guys, but the BMW M3 has long been one of my favorite cars considering it good looking, luxurious and above all else, fast. Evidentally, Manhart Racing has decided the vehicle is not fast enough having recently announced a tuning kit for the vehicle.

Just how much of a tuning kit this is remains arguable considering Manhart Racing has actually swapped the M3’s stock engine out for the V10 engine found in the BMW M5 and M6. They coupled that beast of an engine with a 7-speed SMG transmission, DMW steering system, quad exhaust in addition to removing the speed limiter.

In conclusion, all of these advancements makes for a 550HP V10 BMW M3 capable of reaching speeds up to 208 mph and sprinting from 0-100km/h in just 3.9 seconds.

via wcf

Tags: BMW, m3, m5, m6, manhart racing, tune, v10