The following report is brought to you via several sources – some of them public and some of them not. The most influential however, Herr26, is an avid commenter on MF and BF and is a well known insider at BMW.
What’s in a name? Look above and you can probably make out that the new BMW Compactive Sport Tourer will be small and wagon like. But what isn’t obvious (at least initially) is that this will be one of the first front wheel drive BMW’s ever offered by the company. Yes CST (alternatively known as the Compact Activity Tourer) is the infamous FWD BMW that either will help guarantee the BMW’s future financial success or destroy the brand.
Official Release: Despite a stop-and-go penalty for contact served by each BMW Team RLL M3 GT during today’s American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Mosport the team still finished the two-hour-and-forty-five-minute race third and fourth in the 14-car GT class to retain the lead in manufacturer, driver and team championship standings. (Videos after the break)
Perhaps the most beautiful BMW coupe of all time, the 3.0 CSI has always been one of our favorites. Here BMW takes a look back at the car and the history.
After three years of service at the top post in the US, Jim O’Donnell will be retiring from BMW this fall. According to Automotive News his replacement will be long-time BMW executive Ludwig Willisch, who has led the company’s sales operations in Europe, Japan and is the man that introduced the world to the X5 and X6 ///M models while he was head of ///M!
Official Release: The Number 56 BMW M3 GT with Dirk Muller at the wheel picked up right where it left off two weeks ago – at the front of the American Le Mans Series GT field after qualifying on the class pole for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Mosport outside of Toronto, Canada. With a 1:17. 08 second lap of the 2.459-mile, 10-turn Mosport International Raceway circuit, Müller will lead the 14-car GT class to the green flag for the start of the two-hour-and-forty-five-minute race tomorrow.
The No. 55 M3 GT of Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner will line up second for an all BMW GT front row for the second consecutive race. Bill Auberlen qualified the car with a 1:17.14 second lap.
Dirk Muller, Qualifying Driver No. 56 M3 GT – “It felt so great getting the pole! Joey and the BMW Team RLL guys did a great job tuning the car in the test session and first practice, I did the final bit of tuning this afternoon. The car is really nice in the quick corners so I knew we had a chance at the pole today. I am extremely happy looking forward to tomorrow. We have a strong racecar, great Dunlop tires and the best team, but we also have a lot of enemies against us…so we need to take care, stay focused and we will see if we can get another podium.”
Official Release: BMW of North America, LLC today announced jointly with Coulomb Technologies, Inc. that drivers of the forthcoming BMW ActiveE all-electric vehicle will be able to take advantage of the expansion of the ChargePoint® Network into the Boston Metro. More than 100 ChargePoint stations for EVs will be made available to the State through Coulomb’s $37 million ChargePoint America DOE program. The stations will be located in the Boston metropolitan area, within the Route 495 Beltway. Drivers of the BMW ActiveE will be able to conveniently and safely recharge their electric vehicle at any ChargePoint-enabled electric vehicle charging station in the US.
Earlier this month we gave you a sneak peak at the new Performance Edition 335i. Today we get the official release with a few new details. As previously mentioned the Performance Edition (option code ZMZ) will be available on all 335i models from now until the end of E90 production in November. Either the sport package or M Sport package is required but once you get past that hurdle PE is only an extra $550. It’s a surprising value for BMW but one that makes sense considering it’s a software only upgrade. Unlike the N54′s BMW Performance engine upgrade, the N55′s kit (which of course is the basis of this option) doesn’t need additional cooling and thus there is no extra hardware needed. In fact the only physical part of the kit are the black kidney grilles that come as part of the option.
One surprise in this release is that, not only will this kit be marketed to current 335i owners but also current 135i owners. We’re guessing this is meant just for N55 equipped cars with either the Sport or M Sport package.
Official Release: Performance breeds excitement and the BMW Performance Edition for the 2011 335i / xDrive Sedan ensures that new car buyers are in for that extra thrill beyond the outstanding performance that can already be realized with these exciting vehicles. Customers can now option their vehicles with a special BMW Performance Edition (option code ZMZ) that includes an all-new Power Kit, black kidney grilles and a “BMW Performance Edition” badge for only $550.
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Sections: FXX 1 Series Compactive Sport Tourer, Rumor Jul 25th, 2011 2 Comments 
