Unfortunately for those who hate their jobs or life, the apocalypse didn’t happen. Bringing further annoyance, the New Year then came and everybody is cheery about it.

If looking forward is not your thing, maybe you can take a breather in these videos from BMW as they’ve released a summary of what they achieved in 2012.

http://youtu.be/jznzR-Zhm0Y

It’s a pretty extensive list. In keeping themselves on top of the luxury market crowds, they’ve come up with so much three videos were needed.

The first one, as you could already see, tends to the new vehicles that were introduced throughout the year that has just ended.

The second video published by the Bavarians also speaks of ideas they’ve presented. This time however it’s the concepts and the design ideas behind them.

http://youtu.be/lTDdon3m2vI

Making things somewhat more in tone with the changing of the years and such, the historic moments of the previous 365 days.

We’ve had two momentous celebrations, one for the BMW Z1 and one for the creation of the M division. Neither can be over-appreciated.

On top of all this stuff, there’s a short description of all the sporting endeavors and collaborations our favorite brand has been involved in.

http://youtu.be/6zQl5iGwTl8

Like they say, 2012 was an amazing for BMW and, of course, for us, the fans of the brand, but since they promise 2013 is going to be better there’s just nothing to complain about.

Oh, and on top of that promise, it’s really nice to finally see how there’s finally a moment when we get to see the voice of BMW TV, Daryl Jackson.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW enters new year with a look back on 2012 appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Saab have only just gotten through the suffering of bankruptcy, missing out on a couple of chances at being saved and ultimately living on as a spare parts division.

They may still live on through their cars and the charm they have but Saab autos is in for an unpleasant notice very soon as the remainder of the company is being sued.

The folks filing the lawsuit are the Bavarians at BMW. As much as we love them, it’s not the happiest moment to be talking about them.

Trouble is, BMW have to do this otherwise they miss out on quite a bit of money. According to the lawyer bunch, BMW has a 2.6 million euro receipt with Saab’s name on it.

That’s roughly 3.2 million dollars and it’s supposed to be a bill for several parts BMW have supplied Saab with recently but which they weren’t paid for.

All of those parts are actually engines, four cylinder units, that Saab used to place in their 9-3 range of small sedans.

From here on, things get a little bit weird as when Saab went bankrupt, they were worth some 500 million dollars while their debt went up to nearly four times.

BMW’s parts bill is included in that huge chunk but the lawsuit can still be applied to the remaining bit of the Saab business as, ironically, they’re responsible for spare parts.

Meanwhile, Saab’s former owner, Spyker, also has a lawsuit to settle with General Motors for this bankruptcy on which they’re supposed to cash in some 3 billion USD.

It will be interesting to see just which of these lawsuits will go through and who’ll get their money back.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW files lawsuit against Saab appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

We we’re recently promised a considerably sportier generation of the BMW Z4 and the Bavarians will keep that promise.

In the meantime, if you don’t mind, I’d stick with the current generation at any time. I may be getting old and a fan of the slightly grown up GT idea but I promise you, it’s an amazing car.

Further more, it should get a little cheaper on the second hand market as we grab a second look at these images containing something almost unexpected.

It seems that before the 2015 scheduled sporty makeover, BMW will be giving the Z4 a small nip tuck. You know how it is in your old age

You start looking into the Botox treatments, maybe a little bit of lipo, just in case you aren’t ready for a hair transplant.

With the BMW Z4 roadster, the Bavarians are thinking a little bit less ambitious. The spyshots indicate there’s simply a matter of make up.

A little mascara goes on the headlights, the cheeks get a little extra red as the fender indicators are covered and round at the back a new haircut.

New engines? Not likely, new interior? Even less of a chance, what we do expect the newly facelifted Z4 is a price tag raising.

After all, added LED lights don’t come cheap do they? Nor does a brand new BMW, especially one that’s a little more exclusive.

Who knows, maybe in all the competitiveness of the current luxury segment situation BMW might actually refrain from any extra charges.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW readies a facelift for Z4 roadster appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

The Bavarians are seriously capable when it comes to engine building. We say it and a lot of people who aren’t necessarily fans also say it.

Today we also got some confirmation from a panel of journalists that actually know what they’re doing. The guys behind the Car of the Year awards may have no clue but the guys behind the Engine of the Year sure do.

The grand prize winner was Ford’s 1.0 liter EcoBoost turbocharged three cylinder which took three categories.

Best performance engine went to Ferrari for the 4.5 liter V8 engine in the 458 and there were a few exceptions in the smaller categories.

Otherwise, BMW have once again dominated the whole affair. They got the 1.4 liter to 1.8 liter engine for the engine they put in the Mini.

Then BMW won the 1.8 liter to 2 liter category for the N20 engine they put in the Z4, the X1 and a host of other models.

The creme-de-la-creme was the 2.5 liter to 3 liter category where BMW’s 3.0 liter straight six TwinPower turbo from the 1 Series M Coupe won.

However, In the same category BMW also got second, third and fourth place for the rest of their 3.0 liter engines regardless of the fuel they use.

Here’s another impressive achievement. BMW also won the 3.0 liter to 4.0 liter category with the engine in the M3. That’s remarkable given how the E93 M3 is soon to go out of production and that engine is now five years old.

Winning this category when you’re a five year old engine is like winning the Mr Universe contest when you’re a 50 year old.

Well done BMW.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post Multiple Engine of the Year awards for BMW appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

The Bavarians are great at making their own cars and, as Rolls Royce and Mini teach us, they’re brilliant at making British ones as well.

Certainly, despite the Germans having a serious effect on the development of the two British brands they still manage to retain some of the appeal.

This might be the reason behind all the excitement we see in the reports coming in of how BMW might be working towards reviving the Triumph brand.

A smattering of British magazines, most notably Autocar, have gotten an idea of how BMW just filed in a new patent for the Triumph name.

Since it’s not your usual arrangement, the new paperwork gives people more hope. Not only is BMW holding on to the British sports car historic name but they’re also registering for the branded parafanelia that comes along.

There’s no desirability loss on the Triumph vehicle front but it’s pretty tricky to wonder what sort of vehicle BMW would build for the brand.

A lot of time has been spent on the subject and after seeing the Mini Roadster introduced the number of options available is definitely slimming down.

Basically, all that’s left would be for BMW to make a cheaper, stripped out version of their Z4 roadster and something of an open top BMW 1 Series M Coupe (maybe a targa top?).

The first has already been shot down before on account of some dealer and overall distribution problems. If the Bavarians have worked things out it could be brilliant.

An N20 powered version of these cars under the Triumph name could end up as being the ultimate rival for the likes of the Toyota GT86 or even the upcoming Alfa Romeo 4C.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW to bring back Triumph brand? appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

You often hear that you could put a BMW badge on anything and it will sell like hotcakes. While there’s some evidence to support the saying, the Bavarians don’t seem to agree with it.

While they can’t complain about their sales, BMW takes every new model launch seriously, something that becomes obvious the minute you find out what they’re doing with the i Range.

The i3 and i8 are two products revolutionary enough to pose sales issues even for the guys at BMW so right now they’re pondering ways to get round it.

BMW isn’t playing around. They are looking up new markets and new ways of selling the BMW i Range right.

Despite not announcing any predicted figures, BMW have announced that selling the i3 or the i8 could be going as radical as selling them online.

Another situation would see the BMW i Range sold on mobile platforms and may be even feature a subscription plan.

Weirdly, the latter doesn’t rename the renting or lease plan but rather offers up a different option in covering the missing items from a EV ownership.

While owning an electric vehicle, albeit i3 or i8 which may feature a range extender, you may find yourself wanting for a proper chance to get away on the weekend.

Everything sounds revolutionary and sharp but I can’t imagine how the i Range would be helped along by this sort of campaign.

After all, you couldn’t exactly call up BMW and tell them you want a “time share” back up five series so you can go to Vegas “right now” can you?

Source: egmcartech

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

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It would seem that the Vision EfficientDynamics concept car the Bavarians at BMW rolled out to the public quite some time ago is still the inspiration behind some rumors.

The most recent of them is that BMW are considering building a new model, a hybrid one no less.

The guilty party behind the rumor is the staff at German magazine “Autozeitung” who have made quite an interesting case.

Don’t think back to the BMW 850i with a washing machine engine in it, oh no, this will be a M powered vehicle. Even so, that’s not enough. It will be the 5 liter V10 engine out of the E60 BMW M5 which will be mated to a couple of electric motors rounding up the total horsepower figure somewhere around the 700 mark.

Not bad, not bad at all. The new BMW, dubbed the M8, will be nothing short of spectacular if we pick up this presentation, the spec sheet of the Vision EfficientDynamics concept and the talent that BMW has on offer.

Perhaps it will also be turbocharged, better yet, twin turbocharged. And perhaps it will have machine guns on the roof. We’ll just have to put our sensible hats on, not take it to seriously. Well at least some cheeky Germans who actually work for BMW confirm this.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post Rumor; BMW M8 Hybrid? appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

According to the 6th annual Automotive News Europe/SupplierBusiness OEM-Supplier Relations Study the Bavarians at BMW AG are the automaker that most suppliers want to do business with.

This new survey shows that BMW rose to the top spot which if you consider that last year it ranked fifth.

VW was found to be the carmaker that applies the most pressure to drop the prices. BMW is trailed by Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen brand.

Toyota was the winner last year but due to the impact of the over 8.5 million vehicles being recalled over safety risks such as unintended acceleration and poor braking.

BMW’s feat of rising to the top can be seen as quite a turnaround. BMW has been slipping in this category since 2007, which is when BMW head of purchasing Herbert Diess was ordered to cut 4 billion euros the equivalent of $5.7 billion in costs by 2012.

Either way the recent progress at BMW is one that’s quite notable, even despite announcements of them joining forces with Mercedes to keep supplier costs in check. On a sidenote, VW was found to be the carmaker that applies the most pressure to drop the prices.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

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The technology being demonstrated this week by BMW and Volkswagen in Germany is what resulted from a government funded project.

That would be what the two companies have been at work on for the past four years, the Adaptive and Cooperative Technologies for Intelligent Traffic (AKTIV) project.

AKTIV includes a group of German automakers, suppliers and communications companies to develop and test systems that will improve traffic flow, safety and fuel efficiency. In order to achieve these improvements BMW and VW have been hard at work and the cars involved in this project have been bundled with various technology such as cameras, radar and laser sensors.

All of these are developed to automatically brake the vehicle to prevent collisions and to warn the driver of pedestrians or vehicles coming from around a corner.

The Bavarians over at BMW has even incorporated the communications systems into motorcycles to allow riders to be more aware.

With the Active Safety project, the experts from BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH have made an important contribution to improving road traffic safety. In addition, specialists from the BMW Group brought to the Traffic Management project their insights about smooth traffic flow and developed innovative navigation functions. Also, in dialogue with industry specialists, they established the basis for acceptance and implementation of the road traffic technologies and applications.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW and Volkswagen demonstrate safety technology appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

The latest announcement from BMW is rather worrying as they claim the new F10 BMW 5 Series has sold out in all the markets it’s been made available.

The new BMW 5 Series entered the European market about a month ago and the U.S. market just over a week ago and yet all the lots went out already. Happily since this isn’t a limited edition, you can still get one, you will however have to wait for about three months or so to put one in your driveway.

Ian Robertson, BMW’s sales boss was present at an industry press conference in Bilbao, Spain today were he made this information available to the public along with statements according to which the Bavarians were expecting something like this to happen since the 5 Series is a BMW core product and the F10’s less controversial styling when compared to the previous generation would see more market appeal.

Besides the styling there’s another important appeal of this BMW 5 Series, it shares almost 70% of its technology with the company’s flagship model, the BMW 7 Series. As an additional success item, analysts believe that the new 5-er is ‘stealing’ market share from Audi’s A6 because it will be soon replaced by an all-new model and customers are put off by the idea of buying a new premium car that’s almost already outdated.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

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