March 2013

Husqvarna Motorrad

BMW Motorrad and Speedbrain Part Ways

BMW has announced an end to their racing cooperation with Speedbrain, their partner organization in running Husqvarna motorcycles in events like the Dakar. Given BMW\'s recent sale of the Husqvarna marque to Pierer Industrie AG, there\'s not much left to partner on unless BMW were to start running the R 1200 GS in that epic race. Frankly, I think I\'d like to see that. But big bikes in the sand notwithstanding, the two groups have parted ways amicably as BMW continues to refocus its Motorrad division to what\'s next.

by Nathaniel Salzman
Official News Sales/Marketing

BMW Posts Best Worldwide February Sales Ever

Official Release: With 133,630 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brand automobiles delivered worldwide (+4.7% / prev. yr. 127,638), the BMW Group achieved its best-ever February sales result. A record number of 256,929 (prev. yr. 239,802) vehicles have been delivered to customers since the start of the year – an increase of +7.1% compared with the same period last year.

by Gabriel Bridger
Alpina F30 3 Series F31 Touring

Bi-Turbo and Style, The New Alpina B3 BiTurbo

It takes a lot to be an auto manufacturer in Germany. It takes even more to hang with the best and that is precisely what Alpina has done with their newest offerings (at least on paper). The all new B3 is a slick interpretation of luxury and performance in an exclusive package. Truth is, over the years we have met some seriously passionate BMW personalities but few come close to Alpina\'s proprietor Andreas Boviensapien and we have grown to respect the brand a great deal. As an engineer and race driver that has a knack for building things that get up and go in a hurry Andy shows genuine enthusiasm, as is evident by the twinkle he gets in his eyes when discussing products that are finished up at his Buchloe factory.

by Michael
Sales/Marketing

BMW US Sales Flat for January

The big winner for February is (unsurprisingly) the X5 with sales up 22% over February of 2012. Also up (and hopefully stabilized) is the F10 5 Series. And finally it\'s nice to see the 6 Series, a car we\'ve reviewed very positively, doing well. On the downside are a couple surprises. The F30 3 Series is fully launched with xDrive yet it continues to show up and down figures month after month. We\'d guess this has something to do with the Coupe and Convertible being long in the tooth and the lack of incentives last month compared to 2012 when BMW was clearing out E90s. It also makes you wonder how BMW plans on reporting model sales when they move the 3er Coupe and Convertible to the 4 Series model classification.

by Gabriel Bridger
E30 3 Series Video

Chris Harris Buys an E30 and Goes Rallying

Everyone\'s favorite English auto journalist Chris Harris has long talked about his love for old BMWs. Having owned countless M3s and currently an E28 M5 he\'s got quite a bit of experience with vintage Bimmers. So it shouldn\'t come as a surprise that he recently bought a well sorted but rather ragged E30. What may surprise some is that it was bought for one purpose, to rally.

by Gabriel Bridger