The day when conventional vehicles will be replaced by alternative power ones seems to be drawing closer. Bob Lutz, the ex-vice chairman of GM expressed an interesting thought in a recent press release.

He said that the vision of electric cars replacing diesel or gasoline ones is now closer than ever. And the one to open this road might be the BMW i3.

While not going into details, a recent announcement said that GM and BMW managed to overcome, or at least drastically improve one of the biggest drawbacks of electric vehicles, and that is the infrastructure. It seems that a certain milestone has been reached in developing a reliable and fast recharge station that can be used worldwide.

Could this recent breakthrough be the result of all these years that electric vehicles have spent refining or is it the effort BMW and GM put in? It is probably a bit of both, but one thing it seems more certain is that the BMW i3 will be a real trend setter and it is expected to spark a real revolution in motoring.

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Marcus M.

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The post The BMW i3 will kill conventional cars appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

The future is of automobiles looking greener and greener because of the efforts made by the industry leaders to improve their cars and BMW makes no exception. Even more, the manufacturer is planning to increase its workforce in the green segment so that it can fulfill the demands for such cars.

If you happen to know a friend that specializes in a field such as electric vehicles, fuel-efficient engine development or hybrid powertrains then get him or her to quickly sign up for a job at BMW because there are 1,300 positions to be filled by the end of the month. But don’t despair if you think it’s too late. Next year BMW will open another 1,300 positions for the same fields of expertise.

Why the large numbers you might ask? Well, the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics and the BMW Megacity electric vehicle are prime candidates because the clock is ticking fast until their launch.

It looks like BMW is trying to get a large slice of the green car market, as this will be a car of the future. The company is planning to slowly but surely increase the total vehicle sales per year and these models (and those that will follow) will have a thing or two to say.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW Steps on the Gas for Green Car Production appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Ever since BMW has announced its concept car named Vision EfficientDynamics at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 2009, the world began to think about the possibility of a car that does two things very well: looks outstanding and also has a very good fuel economy. And it’s getting near us.

Now, getting back at the present time, we got a piece of news that is sure to be of great importance. According to Ian Robertson, sales and marketing director for BMW, the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics is said to have a price tag of about 150,000 euros (around $200,000) when it will be launched. That kind of money doesn’t come by too often, but it will get you a car packing a three cylinder diesel hybrid that sports 328 hp and a huge 62.5 mpg fuel economy.

Unfortunately, there is no official launch date for the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics, although a few speculations could be made, as the German car manufacturer will be sponsoring the 2012 London Olympics and that could be a prime candidate for a debut. Either that or the year 2013, but we shall be looking for more info on that.

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Marcus M.

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The post BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Price Announced appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Owners of the Apple iPad that are interested in finding more detailed information regarding the new BMW X3 can now do it by installing a free application offered from BMW. A premiere for the German car manufacturer, the application features not only all the information one could ever ask for but also the possibility of taking a full 360 degree look at the BMW X3 via the iPad. Another very good thing is that videos are also available.

Launched at the start of December 2010, the BMW X3 application lets the users configure their vehicle with the help of the touchscreen and if a customer would want to, a test drive could even be scheduled by contacting BMW from a form found inside the application.

Facebook and other social networks also got the option of getting links and info that can be posted by the customers, thus increasing the BMW X3’s coverage.

We hope to see more models being implemented by BMW for the Apple iPad and it’s a very good thing that the car manufacturer is considering going down this road as more and more iPads are being sold.

The application can be found here.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post The New BMW X3 Hits the Apple iPad appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Earlier we talked about the partial unveiling of the BMW 1 Series M Coupe. Since then, more info has been surfacing regarding the car’s specs so we’re here again to bring you the news. There are some good news and some bad (depending on your tastes): the good news is that the 1 Series M Coupe wants to bring an old-school feeling and the bad news (for some) is that it will only sport a manual transmission.

Though some people would disagree with the choice and would prefer a DCT one, there are some logical explanations available, though no definite, one hundred percent answer can be given until BMW will say so itself.

First, the BMW 1 Series M Coupe was meant to offer aggressive looks and feel and that could only be brought by a manual transmission. And the fact that old-school enthusiasts use manual gearboxes.

Plus, considering the speed between development and deployment, there wasn’t enough time to proper plan for a DCT variant. And considering the additional costs and potential sales, BMW probably opted only for the manual one.

This is not over yet, so stay tuned.

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Marcus M.

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The post BMW 1 Series M Coupe Only With Manual Transmission appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Fans of the BMW 1 Series will be excited to find out that BMW will be launching the next generation of the 1 Series at the Frankfurt Motor Show hosted in September next year. Because that the present BMW 1 Series has been on the market for quite a long time, BMW thought it would be better to unveil the next step in the model’s evolution.

Changes to the BMW 1 Series will be made not only physically, with increased dimensions to allow more room for the passengers in the back, new engines featuring three-cylinder and four-cylinder versions (the 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine with power ranging from 75 hp to 185 hp and the 1-5 litre twin turbo diesel engine with power ranging from 95 hp to 177 hp). A new driving platform using rear-wheel drive will be installed (the L7).

The new BMW 1 Series will have the same three-door and five-door versions and the convertible and coupe ones to which a family version will be added and according to rumors it will be a Gran Turismo.

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Marcus M.

http://www.bmwcoop.com

The post BMW to Be Unveiling the New 1 Series Generation Next Year appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

Looks like the scare that BMW involuntarily gave us because of the worker’s strike in South Africa is finally over since the car makers have reached an agreement with the Numsa union, as to pay a 10 percent rise to the worker’s salaries.

More than one week ago it has been reported that a strike had the result of closing the assembly lines of several car manufacturers including BMW, General Motors Company, Daimler, Nissan Motor Company, Volkswagen, Toyota Motor Company and Ford Motor Company,. The reasons were financial, as the workers demanded increased wages and benefits and their union couldn’t find common ground with the car manufacturers during the negotiations which led to up to 2,100 cars to be lost because of the lack of production.

Now that all has ended and the dust has settled, it has come up that about 17,000 units have been lost because of the strike, but we will see if this will have any effect on the rest of the world since more than half of the annual 420,000 units produced in South Africa are destined for export.

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Marcus M.

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The post The South African Strike Has Passed appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

If some time ago there were some rumors saying that BMW is going to build a front-wheel small car, well, as you can see, those rumors have been confirmed officially by BMW which is very cool because if you’re using your car more in the city, well, maybe this new future BMW product is going to be a perfect choice talking about the city cars.

With these confirmed rumors, there are coming up more little rumors like there may also be all-wheel-drive for this small car either that at the moment it is named the front-wheel future car from BMW.

Anyway, there is not going to be any rear-wheel drive so the BMW 1 Series will still remain the smallest rear-drive BMW because this future small car is probably going to be much smaller than the BMW 1 Series. Also, the photos from this post are just some renderings I found on the internet with this BMW front-wheel small car.

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Marcus M.

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The post BMW confirmed Front-Wheel Small Car for the future appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

According to our friends from AutoBuild, it seems that BMW are having a little problem deciding between the five different body styles for the new 1 Series. Just one of these five options will be able to go in production.

Some of the ideas include a five-door wagon, a three-door shooting brake, a “Progressive Activity Sedan”, but smaller than the X1, a more traditional sports tourer and a “Sports Activity Coupe” with a glass roof. It sounds great, doesn’t it?
It doesn’t matter which of these models makes the cut, BMW will downsize the displacement of the engines and will try to implement turbocharging and direct injection starting with these 1 Series.

The 116i model will have 136 horsepower, the 1.3-liter turbo will have 177 horsepower, the 120i is going to use a 218 horsepower and the 3.0 will put out about 326 horsepower.
Whichever model is picked for the new 1 Series, it’s expected to hit Europe in 2011.

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Marcus M.

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The post Five different 1 Series appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.

BMW X3 was first launched on the market in 2003 and it had a big success since the beginning of its “career”. Although appreciated, the SAV (Sports Activity Vehicle – as presented by the BMW), has suffered along the way some changes. The most important of these changes was the “plastic surgery” back in 2007.

The new BMW X3 design is much more appreciated because of its elegance, but at the same time, the sporty look. This new image makes it look like the little brother of the X5.
The vehicle also has a new and more intelligent driving soft – the XDrive all-wheel. On the exterior you can notice a change in the spoilers and a few other details that give the X3 a much more aggressive look.

The BMW X3 was rewarded with the “Gelber Engel” award (The Yellow Angel) for the most reliable vehicle on Germany.

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Marcus M.

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The post BMW X3 E83 details appeared first on BMWCoop | BMW Blog, BMW News, BMW Reviews.