BMW’s i8 Spyder is now winking at us thanks to a couple of videos. No longer is the roadster version of the BMW i8 a static display .

The new promo videos must be the Bavarians’ way of reminding us how the Beijing Motor Show is coming up later this month.

This is important, because that’s what the BMW stand will have for a flagship concept. China’s market is quite important to BMW, as we keep finding out from recent sales results.

Even though the presentation may have changed, BMW’s i8 Spyder concept won’t see anything different on its body or performance.

It’s still a 131 horsepower electric motor teamed with a 1.5 liter three cylinder turbocharged engine producing another 223 horsepower.

As you’d imagine, the BMW i8 Spyder also retains the fuel economy and performance figures. It can manage 78 mpg on the US cycle and it develops a combined 354 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque.

Those latter figures will help the new BMW concept go from 0 to 60 in just 5 seconds and the top speed figure stands at a very German 155 mph.

I will say something though, the BMW i8 Spyder looks even better in videos than it does in photos. That fluid design is certainly something worth looking at.

Rolling in quietness on a roof parking lot is nice but the second part where you see at night is miles more impressive.

This is where you realize that the BMW i8 Spyder actually has the making of a serious posing machine. It doesn’t look like anything other than a supercar.

Source: Carscoop

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW i8 Spyder promo videos appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

We’ve known for a while how the demands of the Chinese car market tend to make just about every major car maker bend to its will and BMW is now announcing the latest product to come from this.

It is the LWB (long wheelbase) version of the new F30 BMW 3 Series. The model will be introduced at this month’s Beijing Motor Show.

Orders should commence at the same time as the motor show debut but no word has been uttered on when deliveries will start.

We’d imagine it won’t take too long since the F30 LWB will be built at a Chinese plant recently built in Shenyang which also makes the LWB version of the F10 BMW 5 Series.

Apart from offering more legroom, the only difference between this Chinese F30 and ours is that there’s no diesel engine in the lineup.

The leg room gain should be noticeable though since the length gain is 4.3 inches. That should make quite the difference for the businessmen of Beijing.

Under the bonnet, the F30 LWB gets familiar powerplants and will be available in 320Li, 328Li and 335Li trims. The first two engines are turbocharged 2 liter four pots developing 184 and 245 horsepower.

The latter is the glorious 3.0 liter straight six, also in turbocharged form which develops 305 horsepower.

If you find a stretched 3 Series appealing, forget it, BMW will only be offering it in China. Unless you find about 2 billion friends interested in buying one, you’re likely not to get your wish.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post F30 BMW 3 Series LWB officially announced appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

As you may remember the stunning BMW Gran Coupe concept that was unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show this year has been announced by various sources that it will be making into production.

That’s not the full story however, as since 2012 isn’t that far away, the Bavarians are treating us to some information on what should we be expecting from it by then.

For starters, we have confirmation on the production version of the BMW Gran Coupe to be coming in in the second quarter of 2012 from BMW’s chief of sales and marketing, Ian Robertson.

So far, so good, but there’s more information to come from the same Mr. Robertson and it raises an eyebrow for many. The BMW Gran Coupe will be wearing the 6 Series badge and more importantly, there will be a M6 version of it as well. This is frankly, great news but the dark side of it can be seen in suspicion that the current form of the BMW 6 Series Coupe will be dying off.

This is not confirmed in any way but there is little information on the matter so it’s still a possibility.

When it will be going into production the BMW Gran Coupe will rival models such as the Porsche Panamera, the Audi A7 and the next generation Mercedes-Benz CLS.

Upon its debut, Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW chief designer, claimed that Gran Coupe point to a particular model, to a sedan model with the presence of a 7 Series, but more dynamic, more sportive, oriented to the driver.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post News on the fate of the BMW Gran Coupe appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

BMW has recently announced it’s plan for electric vehicles and further more they will be bringing forward a special edition of their latest 5 Series sedan.

This 5 Series will be set apart from the rest of the BMW 5 Series range in being electric.

The car is named Echo and is the result of a partnership between BMW and Tongji University. Tongji University is one of the leading universities directly under the State Ministry of Education in China, has a tradition spanning over a hundred years and it is renown for its, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, School of Civil Engineering , Mechanical School, School of Environmental Science and Engineering.

The precise stats on this car are, as to be expected kept secret but we do have a couple of little snippets about it, it will be able to travel 62 miles on an all electric range and it is promoted as being a car made in Chine, by China and for China.

That being said though there are no plans for BMW to put this concept car into production. The Echo 5 Series BMW is a direct result of BMW’s engineering and of the immense investments made by the Chinese government that total up to over a billion dollars. This amount is invested by the Chinese as the logistics of importing crude oil and the pollution issues this will bring up when China has vast resources of coal that could be transformed in cheap electricity.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post Echo 5 Series BMW to be unveiled in Beijing appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

I must say that there have passed a while from when I talked last time about a 5 Series built by BMW. Here we got some spy photos while the 2011 BMW 5 Series Long Wheelbase Sedan was being tested on winter time as you can see in the spy photos that I have uploaded in this post.

We know that this 2011 BMW 5 Series Long Wheelbase Sedan will come with a 3.0 liter six-cylinder engine which may be considered a big engine but there will also be a 4.4 liter V8 turbocharged engine which is much more powerful than that one.

Anyway, you may still consider those engines very powerful but I tell you that such a big car really needs a big engine because just by looking in the spy photos that I have uploaded in this post you can notice how big can be this 2011 BMW 5 Series Long Wheelbase Sedan.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post Spy photos with the 2011 BMW 5 Series Long Wheelbase Sedan appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.