At the 2010 Geneva Motor Show BMW presented the new 5 Series, the 5 Series ActiveHybrid concept, and the ActiveE electric concept based on the 1 Series coupe. The BMW catch cry for this year is “Efficient Dynamics“, a project which was first launched at Geneva three years ago. For a better idea of why BMW is so focussed on what may seem a boring concept, check out the BMW physics lesson video after the jump, which takes a jab at Audi via an upstart youngster who knows how to draw the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept car.

BMW is more than serious, though, about the technology from that concept car that it intends to adopt across the range. The entire range of BMW vehicles has a calculated average of fuel consumption for each vehicle of just 5.9 l/100 km. The ActiveE will soon start road tests, while the Megacity concept development will get underway.

In addition to the environmental focus, on display at the show is the X5 restyling, the 3 Series coupe and cabriolet restyling, the 2010 X6 range and the Z4 SDrive 35is. There was also the 135i with Valvetronic Twinpower Turbo N55 with dual-clutch technology, which is a technical novelty for the BMW M5 now available with Start-Stop, a Competition Package and rear LED lights. We’ll be bringing you more details and pics of the new BMW 5 Series, X5 and the other models from the show, but see these live pics from Geneva to see if BMW is staying exciting while focussing on its technology.

BMW 5 Series live pics from Geneva motor show

Continue reading: BMW live pics from Geneva and Efficient Dynamics physics lesson video

Perhaps in response to Jeremy Clarkson rubbishing the BMW X6, in particular its ability as an off-road vehicle, BMW has produced two videos on the snow driving capabilities of both the X5 and X6. The “M” versions of the cars are driven through the Passo Valparola in Italy’s Dolomites mountain range, in a kind of off-road instruction video.

You can see the BMW X6M and X5M drifting and then in hillside driving (in the second video after the jump). In fact, it’s actually high-speed driving up a ski slope. If you’re a BMW driver and fan, you’ll probably be convinced, and I think the videos are useful for anyone who intends to actually use their SUV as an off-road vehicle. I very much doubt that Jeremy Clarkson would be very convinced, at all…

Continue reading: BMW X5 and X6 off-road driving videos

We wouldn’t normally just re-post videos from other other blogs but it’s Friday and we needed a laugh. The guys at Autoblog found this video which is one example of people who don’t know how to drive but still get themselves an expensive vehicle or one that will turn heads.

Like men who buy a Porsche or a Ferrari but can’t drive it? Well this one details an SUV driver, who are often the ones we love to hate anyway. I assume the BMW X5 has its brake and its accelerator in the same spot as every other car on the planet… but then again.

Source | Autoblog

Continue reading: BMW X5 parking video

The BMW stand at the Frankfurt motor show features the 5-Series GT, the X1, the X6 ActiveHybrid, the 7-series ActiveHybrid, the X5M and X6M and a few new models as well.

Coming up, we take a closer look at the imposing Vision EfficientDynamics concept, but among the newbies is basically the whole family. It includes the 7-Series High Security, 7-Series M-sport, 7-Series XDrive with all wheel drive, the X3 18d, 1-Series model year 2010, 320d Efficient Dynamics, M3 Edition, M6 Competition Limited Edition and the whole new BMW Performance kit for four cylinder engines. The 2.0-litre diesel gets an increase from 177 hp to 197 hp and torque is up from 350 to 390 Nm.

The X5M and X6M both have 550 hp, while the many engine pics below also take a look at the X6 ActiveHybrid V8 4.4-litre unit with 485 hp and 780 Nm. Both the X6 and 7-Series ActiveHybrid have the new eight-speed automatic gearbox and Start-Stop systems. Check it all out in the gallery below.

BMW live pics from Frankfurt motor show

Continue reading: BMW range: live pics from Frankfurt

The BMW X5 front is revealed in these shots before the SUV debuts in 2010, after the appearance of the X5 M and X6 M. The X5 hybrid will also be appearing later this year.

The new X5 will undergo a light facelift, as seen in these photos, which will take up the sports look of the sister SUV, the X5. Two large air intakes around the number plate and new headlights complete the package at the front.

Continue reading: BMW X5 restyling: the front

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

Rumours regarding a possible M version of the X5 have been doing the rounds for some time, but it appears that the “nastier” versions photographed are nothing more than vehicles equipped with the twin-turbo V8 4,400cc power of the X6 50i.

According to expectations from BimmerFile, the rear camouflage shows off new bumpers, destined to look very similar to the rear of the X6. The quad exhaust terminals demonstrate a tangibile sporty nature, rather than relying on other aesthetic aspects to confirm this.

Continue reading: Bmw X5: no "M", "just" a twin-turbo V8

The Porsche Cayenne GTS represents in some ways the provocative last front in the world of SUVs. With the Cayenne we’ve seen the entry of a paradox, an oxymoron, an open contradiction in the roots of this category of off-road (remember the first ML?) and the extravagance of feeling like you’re on the track.

In one corner of the ring of the Fifth Gear Shootout there is the Cayenne: steel spring technology, PASM, electronic suspension-checks, V8 with direct injection, but with a body lowered by 24mm (to the face of the lightest dirt road). It confronts a more “canonic” BMW X5 4.8i which, despite having 50 bhp less, does 0-100 km/hr in 6.5s - only four-tenths more than the Porsche, thanks to weighing a good 195kg less!! Who would have thought it would prevail on the track?

The BMW can count on excellent traction, guaranteeing road grip on the exit of corners. The example sampled by Vicky was also equipped with electronic suspension and 19″ alloys that did the rest. But the Cayenne, especially in sports mode, when you feel 50bhp extra and the more rigid body structure, it’s a true sports car in disguise.

Continue reading: Fifth Gear Shootout: BMW X5 4.8i vs Cayenne GTS

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

BMW will be showing in Geneva their BMW Vision EfficientDynamic, a concept car based on the BMW X5 with a novel hybrid propulsion system based on the recent 2.0 litre Variable Twin Turbo diesel engine.

The diesel engine outputs 204 ps / 400 Nm, while the electric engine contributes a maximum of 15 kW of power and a torque of 210 Nm, which makes it possibile to accelerate from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 8,9 seconds, with an average fuel consumption of just 6.5 litres/100 km on the EU test cycle.

The generator used in the brake energy regeneration system is directly integrated in the gearbox housing and feeds a lithium-ion battery housed in the luggage compartment. Most vehicle functions are powered electrically and the Auto Start/Stop function should act seamlessy to avoid needless idling. There is also a 1 square meter solar cell on the roof which generates up to one kilowatt.

Continue reading: Geneva 2008 - BMW X5 hybrid concept