Here is a full gallery of the BMW X3 xDrive18d, the new entry level compact SAV from BMW. The engine is the same 2.0 litre diesel at 143hp, as the 118d and the 318d. With this unit, the X3 has a fuel consumption of about 6.2 litres per 100 km on a mixed circuit, and CO2 emissions of 165 g/km.

The X3 xDrive 18d performance is also valid, with a maximum torque of 350 Nm at 1,750 rpm, and a top speed of 195 km/hr. Reaching 100 km/hr takes 10.3 seconds. Despite being the entry level vehicle, this X3 version is still equipped with xDrive all-wheel drive and Efficient Dynamics.

Continue reading: BMW X3 xDrive18d gallery

The most significant news, perhaps, lies in its name: following the example of its older sisters, the BMW X3 will earn the xDrive appellation, indicating its engine roots. We’ll be seeing some new options though, to give lustre to a model which has fast grown old. Just as well they understood this over in Munich.

The 2009 range will be composed of the Lifestyle and Exclusive versions, both available with the addition of the Comfort Package Plus. The first version offers 17-inch alloy wheels with V design (18-inch for the xDrive35d version), leather and fabric seats with leather finish on the steering wheel - nothing particularly exceptional.

Continue reading: Bmw X3 xDrive: new name and details for model year 2009

The BMW group is set to invest a total of one billion US dollars over four years in the American market. The resources will be channelled towards a new adminstrative and training centre in New Jersey, increasing the sales network and broadening production in the Spartanburg facilities.

These are all strategies that should take advantage of the current weak dollar compared to the euro. Currently the BMW factory in South Carolina assembles about 160,000 vehicles a year, but with the new investment estimates are up arounf 240,000 vehicles by 2012. To the X5 and X6, produced only in the US, the new X3 will be added, currently manufactured in Austria. 500 new jobs should also be created in the new complex.

Continue reading: BMW will invest one billion dollars in the US

What lovely sarcasm this ad has in its presentation of the Bmw X3: not as vulgar as other American SUVs.

Via | Carscoop.blogspot.com

Continue reading: Bmw X3: against pick ups in American advertisement

It’s seems that over in Munich they love the letter “x”. Despite purists of the BMW brand maybe scratching their heads, the company is seriosly intent on broadening its range of SUVs and SAVs.

The great success of the new X5 and the X6 is clear testimony to the heightened appeal of this type of car. In means that BMW certainly does not have any intention whatsoever of curbing its nvestment in such fertile niche markets.

In fact in 2010 it will be X1’s turn, the smallest of the BMW SUV’s whose dimensions place it halfway between the series 1, whose mechanics and platform it will use, and the series 3 touring. The new entry-level of the X range will have much a stylistic recall to its X6 sister. In particular the back-window and rear shape seen in camouflage phase, will be less truncated than the X5 and X3.

Continue reading: X1, X3 and X4: it's raining SUVs and SAVs at BMW

A future of stars and stripes for the offroads of BMW: given the progress of the euro-dollar exchange rate, management has decided to move the major part of the range’s manufacturing to Spartanburg, South Carolina. 750 million dollars has been dedicated to the facility from which 240,000 vehicles a year will be produced - a significant increase on the current 150,000. In addition 500 new employees will be hired.

In the course of the next five years then, the following developments will occur: the Z4 will return to Europe, and in its place the new generation BMW X3 from the Magna Steyr line of Graz will arrive. “Incorporating our know-how into SUV material will improve efficiency,” said Frank-Peter Arndt, member of BMW’s board of directors, in an interview with Automative News. “Increasing production in our most important market therefore represents a natural step,” he concluded. In the USA, the X3 and X5 sold 58,089 units in 2007 (an increase of over 8.9% on 2006).

Given the euro-dollar exchange, so unbalanced in favour of the former, many european manufacturers are taking more drastic measures, including BMW: realising overseas profits under this current pressure is not as easy as in the period of the weaker euro. And so also VW, after having closed down production of its last American facility in 1988, is about to return to the USA.

Continue reading: BMW: the entire X range to be produced in Spartanburg