BMW's Articles
You know how action movies almost always has to have a car chase scene where a car spectacularly flies over a cliff before crashing down into a ball of flame.
This accident involving a BMW 3-Series Coupe didn’t have the theatrics of Hollywood, but it still was eye-popping enough to catch our attention.
According to the driver of the 3-Series who lived to tell the story of his cliff-plunging ordeal, he was driving along the Angeles Crest Highway in California with a female friend when a group of animals caught him off-guard, causing him to swerve his 3-Series straight into the edge of the cliff where it flew straight off before tumbling down the mountain in a heap.
Remarkably, both the driver and his female companion escaped the cliff-flying episode without any serious injuries, although both of them know how incredibly fortunate they are to have all their appendages intact after such a terrible crash.
BMW’s recent foray into the world of software applications has resulted in the offspring of yet another app for its M Series. Calling it the M Power Meter, the new iPhone app allows users the opportunity to gauge a number of unique features from their car including 0-60 times, distances, and g-forces experienced. Unlike other apps that charge you for the experience, the M Power Meter app is entirely free-of-charge and can downloaded straight from the App Store on Apple’s website. Apart from being free, it’s also painstakingly easy to use. All you have to do is download the software, accept the terms and conditions of the app, put it in your car in an upright position and you’re ready to go. The M Power Meter has a default 0-50km/h time that can be easily adjusted to as much as 200 km/h. Users can also opt to adjust the distance covered by the run from 100 meters, which is the standard, all the way up to 2,000 meters.
The 2012 BMW 3-Series is still a long ways away from seeing the production line but that doesn’t that mean it’s exempt from the curious sort’s prying eyes.
This latest spy video of the new 3-Series was captured after the car took a pit stop at a gas station somewhere in Europe. From what we gather, the 2012 3-Series – in all its swirly-camouflaged glory – was undergoing winter testing too see how the car reacts in sub-zero temperatures.
As you can imagine, the swirls didn’t do a whole lot in showing the aesthetic design of the new 3-Series and the white snowy background doesn’t help either but at least we finally have visual evidence that the new 3-Series is in fact, on its way.
A new app for the iPhone and the iPod touch was recently made available, and it’s set to make BMW fans very happy.
The new BMW TV app will provide users with a unique brand experience of BMW, which will allow them to stream from their iPhone or iPod Touch the latest videos from BMW TV, as well as a video wall with an interactive interface that lets them keep track – and bookmark – interesting videos that you might end up liking. The new BMW TV app also works seamlessly and selected videos can be viewed without interruption. The app also allows you to recommend some of the video contributions to your friends through the use of social media or by emailing the links to your friends.
It’s hard to imagine that it’s been 25 years since the first-ever release of the BMW M5, yet that’s exactly how long it’s been. In celebrating the silver anniversary of BMW Motorsport’s first M5 release, the company took a group of journalists and brought them to the Nurburgrin Nodrschleife for an in-depth look at the long and rich history of the M5, as well as glimpses of what, hopefully, is a sign of things to come.
Among those that BMW featured in their celebration were two fabled M5 cars that came close to being released out on the market, but ended up being shelved for one reason or another: the BMW M5 E34 Cabriolet and the BMW M5 E39 Touring.
PRESS RELEASE
Hairdo test in the new BMW wind tunnel.The new BMW wind tunnel in the north of Munich:
a place that can even surprise the much-travelled Sylvie van der Vaart.
She sits in a 1987 open-top BMW 3 Series Convertible, authentically dressed in an eighties-style Bordeaux-coloured dress, her hair down and put into perfect shape by a hair specialist. She is slightly nervous before the “test drive”: “I’m a little on edge because I’m not sure exactly what’s going to happen with all this wind. But BMW has assured me that it’s all safe.” The huge rotor of the wind tunnel slowly starts to turn, from the control centre you can see a gentle breath of air slowly but surely developing into a stiff breeze at 60 km/h. After this windy test drive, the result is clear: the hairstylist on the set is not too happy since the only thing the tousled mane of model and TV presenter Sylvie van der Vaart would be good for is an eighties music video.
The outfit and hair are restyled and we shoot forward into the year 2009: a current 3 Series Convertible now gleams in the light of the wind tunnel. Sylvie van der Vaart appears with a business look – an elegant beige-coloured trouser suit. She smiles into the camera and waxes lyrical about open-top driving in Madrid, where she lives. “Open-top motoring is just the thing for me!” says the 31-year-old. Waiting at the wheel in the wind tunnel, she once again waits in suspense for the next test run as the huge rotors start to move. The improved aerodynamics of the vehicle with reduced air turbulence in the interior is clearly visible to all those on the set. The long, straight hairstyle hardly moves a millimetre. Sylvie van der Vaart smiles as she steps out of the car: “What a difference from the older model! I couldn’t feel the wind at all – I even had to check to see if they’d even turned it on.”
It was speculated that
BMW might create an electric version of the unsuccessful BMW C1 scooter, and the brand has unveiled an electric concept version of the C1. The original C1 offered enhanced protection to the rider, and even included seat belts, but never really got to selling much. Now that electric is the buzz word, the C1-E could be quite a promising concept for BMW, or at least for the direction its future scooters may take.
The C1-E is focused on safety as well, with a roll-over bar, energy absorbing impact elements, and a seat belt. A lithium-ion battery powers the scooter’s electric motor for a zero emission ride.
BMW says there is currently no plan to put the C1-E into series production.
