BMW News
-
It's always good to be suspicious when an automaker sends out a press release saying customers are "delighted" with its products. In the case of the Mini E, BMW offered data to back up the claim. At the Washington Auto Show today, BMW released early results from a study of 57 customers who leased its Mini E electric vehicle, conducted with the University of California-Davis. Among the conclusions: The Mini E's stated 100-mile range is enough for most daily usage. Home charging is much more important that availability of public charge points. Driving electrically is fun, and the Mini E more or...
-
2011 BMW 335i Gets More Potent And More Expensive
BMW Brings More To the Table For 2011
Jonathan McGrew -
BMW ActiveHybrid 5, Its Third, To Launch at Geneva Motor Show
BMW is expected to unveil its third hybrid model at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show this March. It will be a mild-hybrid version of the all-new 2011 BMW 5-Series sedan line it has just unveiled, which will go on sale in June. The ActiveHybrid 5 will follow in the footsteps of the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid...
John Voelcker -
BMW ActiveHybrid X6 Review
BMW's ActiveHybrid X6 is one of the most powerful hybrid vehicles ever produced. Outputting a combined 480 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque, this a hybrid to be reckoned with. Its 0-60 mph time of 5.2 seconds from a vehicle weighing in at 5,700 lb is definitely astonishing, but does this vehicle live...
Eric Loveday -
BMW Halts 7 Series Hydrogen Vehicle Real World Testing Program
Is hydrogen dead? According to BMW, real world testing of the 7 Series Hydrogen vehicle is at least dead for now. The company has decided to halt real-world testing of the 7 Series Hydrogen vehicles citing a lack of infrastructure and high conversion costs of the newly introduced 7 Series as...
Eric Loveday -
I Want One! BMW ActiveE Electric Concept Is a Car I Can Get Behind
With A Proposed 100 Mile Range, This Car Could Actually Get Me To Work
Jonathan McGrew -
A little more than a year ago, the all-electric Mini E stole the limelight at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. Now, BMW has released details of its next all-electric concept car, which will formally debut at next month's Detroit Auto Show. The BMW Concept ActiveE electric car is based on the BMW 1-Series Coupe, and it's a full four-seater. That contrasts with the Mini E, whose back-seat space was largely taken up by the large lithium-ion battery pack. In fact, says BMW, the passenger compartment is identical to that of a liquid-fueled 1-Series Coupe, with no changes in the head, leg, and...
-
2009 Los Angeles Auto Show: Preview
Only a handful of U.S. auto shows count as important. Detroit, in January, is one; historically, New York in April has been another. But the up-and-comer is the Los Angeles Auto Show, which now occurs in late November or early December and focuses on green cars of all stripes: hybrids, electric...
John Voelcker -
Winter Bound: Convertibles That Can Handle The Cold
A Hardtop Convertible Can Be the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
Jonathan McGrew -
Four-Way Two-Mode Hybrid Project Ends, Lab Closes; Now What?
The Two-Mode Hybrid project was hailed as a model of technical cooperation when it was announced five years ago. But now the partners are going their separate ways, and the complex hybrid system may end up solely as a General Motors technology. GM said in late 2004 it would partner with Daimler and...
John Voelcker -
More Hybrids On the Way From BMW, Including 1-Series
We've covered BMW's first two hybrid vehicles, just launched for the upcoming year: the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6 "sports activity coupe", the world's most powerful hybrid, and the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7, the world's fastest hybrid sedan. Now a spy photo from the British magazine Autocar shows that...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Wash: Less Than One Glass of Water For a Whole Car?
It's Friday, so it's time to dig deep into the GreenCarReports.com random roundup box. Today we have just one item, and it comes with an intriguing question: Could you wash your car with just a single glass of water? That's the premise of a new product called Ecolo Green Car Wash, from a company in...
John Voelcker -
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } BMW may be a late entrant in the hybrid segment, but they are attempting to catch up quick. A few weeks ago, the company held the international media launch of the BMW ActiveHybrid X6. Along with the hybrid X6, BMW will produce the new ActiveHybrid 7. Now the Munich based company has released information about another upcoming hybrid model, albeit with the slightly milder hybrid powertrain found in the 7 series hybrid and not the full hybrid powertrain found in the X6 hybrid. The next hybrid system will be less complex than the ActiveHybrid setup used on...
-
Preview: 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid
While Mercedes-Benz has focused its first green marketing efforts on the undeniably impressive 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid, it was joined by a second hybrid Benz that went on sale earlier this month after previewing in April at the New York Auto Show. The 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid brings...
John Voelcker -
BMW's Other Hybrid: 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 Sedan
For 2010, BMW is releasing two hybrid vehicles that are very different both in style and in their approach to using electric power to assist the gasoline engine. We've already covered the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6 "sports activity coupe", which uses the Two-Mode Hybrid system jointly developed by...
John Voelcker -
Newly Conscientious Consumers Say Modesty Is Cool For Luxury Cars
Well, this is encouraging. A new study of luxury car buyers commissioned by BMW finds that even luxury car buyers are beginning to reject conspicuous consumption, with more and more choosing their purchases for "social, political, or environmental reasons". BMW and Mini executives, in a...
John Voelcker -
Forbes Calls Jeep Grand Cherokee Dirtiest Car, Readers Slam Methods
That old capitalist tool, Forbes magazine, has issued a list of the 10 dirtiest cars sold in the U.S. At the very top, in first place for filth, is the Jeep Grand Cherokee. But it turns out there are some problems with their list. There's history behind this. A decade ago, the website for Forbes...
John Voelcker -
First Drive: 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6
"Our goal was to fundamentally change the view of hybrids," said Peter Tünnermann, project manager for the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6. "We wanted to make a 'non-hybrid' hybrid." In other words, a hybrid that didn't drive like a hybrid. And in that goal, BMW has succeeded admirably...
John Voelcker -
We've known for a while that BMW would launch its first hybrid this year, and now we know when: The 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6 will reach dealers this December. We'll be driving the hybrid X6 in a couple of weeks, but meanwhile, here's our advance preview of BMW's hybrid-electric sport-activity vehicle, unveiled last month at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Sport utility + fastback = sport activity coupe BMW calls the X6 a "sport activity coupe," seeking to distinguish it from the more traditional and upright X5 SUV. And with a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, this is one fast and heavy...
-
Infrastructure Hurdles Hinder Mini E Trial
Being a pioneer isn't easy. Just ask BMW North America CEO, Jim O'Donnell. As the German automaker continues to test 450 electric Minis (aptly called Mini Es) in New York, New Jersey and L.A., creating the charging network has proven challenging. "We are learning a heck of a lot just about the...
Robert Scardino -
VIDEO: BMW Unwraps The Vision EfficientDynamics Concept, Turbodiesel Plug-in Hybrid
In recent weeks, BMW has set the blogosphere alight with a trickle of information regarding a concept that would be on display for the upcoming Frankfurt auto show. If you guessed that the new vehicle would be a turbo-diesel plug-in hybrid sports car, you were right. The so-called Vision...
Robert Scardino -
BMW's Newest, Greenest Concept: Vision EfficientDynamics
BMW's legendary M series performance cars use big, brawny, turbocharged gasoline engines. The 2009 BMW M5, for example, has a 500-horsepower, 5.0-liter V-10. How many cylinders ??? Where ??? But the concept car BMW will unveil in two weeks at the Frankfurt Motor Show promises "the performance of an...
John Voelcker -
Teaser: BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! That's when we'll finally hear more about the BMW concept dubbed Vision EfficientDynamics. Until then, all we've got is these teaser images and the short, equally coy YouTube video below. The blogosphere is brimming with speculation as to what BMW is hiding, but we...
Robert Scardino -
BMW To Launch Its First Two Hybrids Next Month
Like many European brands that rely on diesels, BMW has been late to the party in introducing electric-drive cars. That's a risky strategy for North America, where it has had to add incentives on diesels and try to tie them to the Cash-for-Clunkers program. Now it's making up for lost time, not...
John Voelcker