Today the US government announced new efficiency standards that will (for the first time in recent memory) unify all states around the same set of standards. It will also greatly influence automotive products and new engines in the coming years.
The new CAFE standard will grow 5% from 2011 onward until 2016. At that time US automakers needs to an fleet average (for cars) of 42 mpg. That’s an increase of 14.5 mpg as compared to what is currently law. For reference BMW current fleet economy rating is 27.5 MPG
But how does it relate to BMW? Luckily for BMW and MINI the current crop of four cylinder petrol and diesel engines are already quite efficient as compared with other 4 cylinder power plants in the US. Yet, as a fleet they will need to average far more than they do now considering M cars and large engined 5 and 7 series sedans. continued →
Official Release: The BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team soldiered to seventh and eighth place finishes in today’s American Le Mans Series Utah Grand Prix. Despite strong qualifying results, prospects for the race outcome were altered at the start.
When the green flag flew, a series of car-to-car contacts throughout the field culminated in an incident between the two BMW M3s in Turn One. As a consequence of the collision, teammates Tommy Milner and Bill Auberlen were forced to the pits for extensive repairs in the opening minutes of the race. Each M3 re-entered the race more than five laps down from the GT2 leader. continued →
Official Release: The cliché of the art collector as a withdrawn lone warrior needs
redrawing. Since June 2008, the online platform Independent Collectors has
been successfully connecting collectors of contemporary art. More than 1,500
collectors from 66 nations have already registered with the Internet community.
With some 450 private exhibitions, most of them publicly accessible, it provides
a unique look behind the scenes of a lot of collections. They make the website a
worthwhile visit for all those passionate about contemporary art, and from now
on, BMW is supporting Independent Collectors exclusively as the first “Global
Partner”. continued →
Reports of BMW and Mercedes partnering to make everything from small cars to major components is like watching a tennis match. Every week seems to bring new statements either confirming or refuting the partnership. This week BMW is the one being cautiously pessimistic with BMW CEO claiming the brand is too valuable to be tied up with Mercedes too overtly. Here’s a quote from this week’s Automotive News:
“There are clear limits. The BMW brand, which one study has valued at $24 billion, must not be diluted or the brand identity damaged,” BMW’s Norbert Reithofer told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview.
No cost savings could possibly be great enough to warrant ruining the core of a brand, he explained.
Last week, Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche pushed for a broader alliance with BMW during an interview with Reuters, saying there were in principle only a few areas where a cooperation was out of the question.
Specifically when it comes to the MINI, BMW is concerned about keeping brand values front and center – notably performance. As we reported last year, BMW looked seriously at building the the next-generation MINI on an Alfa Romeo (Mito) platform. Eventually they scrapped the concept after realizing that they couldn’t guarantee the resulting car would look or drive MINI enough. continued →
As an American, the idea of clean powerful diesel engines being available in a BMW had been a dream and nothing more until the recent launch of the Advanced Diesels. If it wasn’t the sulfur in our diesel, it was our supposed distaste for all things diesel stemming from some ill-concieved products by the domestic automakers 30 years ago. The idea of diesel is still a compelling one if you look at the numbers.
Powerful and sporty yet efficient. That’s the promise of diesel and more specifically of the BMW 335d. The numbers are all there. 37mpg on the highway and 425 foot pounds of torque. It’s astonishing if you consider what the current petrol BMW engines do in regards to efficiency and performance. It gets even more eye-opening when you think about BMW’s previous inline six engines from just a few years ago.
The 335d is the pinnacle (for the time being) of BMW’s diesel range. The inline six cylinder engine features two sequential turbos that propel the car to 0-60 is 6.0 seconds (that’s BMW’s official conservative figure) and an electronically limited top speed of 150 mph. But the key to the experience is the 425ft lbs of torque available from 1750-2250 rpm. What is torque and how does it compare to horsepower? There are lots of technical answers to that question (you can read one here) but the difference is obvious behind the wheel of the 335d. When you hit the accelerator in a 335i, the car surges forward with all the pomp and circumstance you’d expect from 300 hp. It pull’s hard and the engine lets you know it. When you hit the accelerator in the 335d, it doesn’t so much pull as it feels as if it was pushed by the very hand of God. And there’s nothing stressing or straining about it. The 335d simply consumes tarmac effortlessly until you realize you’re doing double the legal speed limit.
Official Release: BMW Group DesignworksUSA and Dassault Aviation announced their latest successful collaboration, the interior cabin of the new Falcon 7X business jet. The Falcon 7X with the new interior by DesignworksUSA made its global debut at EBACE 2009, in Geneva on May 11, 2009. EBACE is the flagship forum for the European business aviation community to find products and services from the world’s top vendors. DesignworksUSA, a global design consultancy and subsidiary of BMW Group, was approached by Dassault recognizing their deep knowledge of premium transportation and the ability to create designs consistent with individual brands, as exemplified by BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. continued →
The French magazine “Automobile” claims to have acquired two images of what appear to potentially be initial design mock-ups the upcoming MINI crossover (coming in 2010 as a 2011 model). But there’s more here than meets the eye and we believe both of these images are not quite what they claim to be.
Official Release: The BMW Group will continue to focus on individual mobility in the premium sector as part of its Strategy Number ONE. “The market for premium vehicles will continue to grow over the medium to long term,” stated Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Norbert Reithofer, at the Annual General Meeting in Munich on Thursday. For instance, premium vehicles account for only one to two percent of the total market in China – well below the level achieved in countries such as Germany. “But, in the future, premium will not just be defined in terms of horsepower, but much more in terms of sustainability,” emphasised Reithofer.
Today, the BMW Group is already the world’s most sustainable automobile company. In 2008, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes listed BMW Group as the leading company in the automotive industry for the fourth consecutive year. Thanks to Efficient Dynamics the average fuel consumption of BMW and MINI vehicles in Germany is 5.9 litres, which corresponds to around 158 g/km in CO2 emissions. On average, newly registered cars in Germany emit 165 g CO2/km. There are already 49 BMW and MINI models which meet strict EU5 emissions standards.
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Official Release: BMW and the Mille Miglia are united by a shared history that goes back a long way. The triumphs of the BMW 328 are as inseparably linked with this 1,000-mile race as the winning appearance of the BMW 507 in the late 1950s. 2009 sees BMW Classic writing a further chapter of this historic narrative. An icon of BMW racing history, normally only on view at the BMW Museum, has been rendered raceworthy again especially for this year’s Mille Miglia: the BMW 328 Mille Miglia Touring Coupé, overall winner of the 1940 event. “On the one hand we want to express the high regard in which we hold the Mille Miglia,” says Karl Baumer, head of BMW Classic, “and on the other our aim is to show that the BMW Museum is no dead-end street, but that we also put historic vehicles back on the road for special occasions.” Visitors to the Museum need not miss out on the legendary racing coupé: during its absence a faithfully reproduced replica will be standing in for the original. continued →
In the four-week break between Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2009 American Le Mans Series, the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team has focused on testing and continued development of the new BMW M3 GT2 race car. The team feels well-prepared for this weekend’s Larry H. Miller Utah Grand Prix.
Immediately following the team’s second consecutive GT2 class podium finish at Round 3 in Long Beach, a team transporter made the journey to Tooele, Utah for two days of tire testing at Miller Motorsports Park, the site of the upcoming Round 4 race on May 17. Drivers Dirk Müller and Tommy Milner completed almost 900 test miles in two days. Dunlop engineers used the opportunity to test a variety compounds and constructions to identify and develop the optimum tires for upcoming races. Team technicians gathered fresh data at the circuit’s 4300 ft. altitude.
The following week, the team met drivers Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand for two more days of testing at Laguna Seca, which will host the ALMS season finale on October 10.
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Sections: EfficientDynamics | Official News May 19th, 2009 2 Comments 
