BMW releases official X5 M video

By Ben Pulman

23 December 2008 10:00

BMW clearly thinks the time is right to release an official video of the X5 M testing at the Nurburgring. It’s the car, along with the X6 M, that’s caused BMW to can the M3 CSL – and risk alienating a generation of M division fans.

So we get this BMW X5 M instead of a CSL?

Afraid so. M Division’s old boss Gerhard Richter once told CAR that the company would only produce high-revving, naturally aspirated engines powering rear-wheel drive cars. Go-faster SUVs simply weren't on the agenda.

Richter is no longer M Division boss, however. He was replaced by Ludwig Willisch, who has cancelled the CSL and approved cars like the X5 and X6 M. According to Willisch, there just won’t be enough demand for a stripped-out M3.

Instead we get an X5 with a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 and around 500bhp. See the car in action in BMW's teaser video below, and watch the introduction carefully – it features lots of M Division’s rear-wheel drive cars in action. We feel like shedding a tear.

BMW Z4 (2009): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard

13 December 2008 23:00

After the leaked Z4 photos last week, today we finally see the first official photos of the new BMW Z4. The 2009-spec Z4 gains a folding hard top and offers a softened design language over the flamboyant banana curves and arcs of today’s roadster. Think of a bar of a soap that’s been through some palm duties and you get the idea.

It’s bound to provoke debate, but the new 2009 Z4 retains its long-bonnet classic roadster proportions. Sure, it’s a tad less extreme than the original and the detailing more mundane, but that’s where BMW design is right now. And perhaps they’ll alienate fewer buyers as a result.

BMW Z4: the lowdown

BMW calls this its first roadster with a retractable hard top and – yes – it replaces the separate convertible and coupe models hitherto sold. The hood is a two-piece affair crafted from aluminium and does its origami street theatre in 20 seconds.

Munich claims the boot space is 310 litres with the roof up, 180 ice cream boxes with the tin-top stowed. There’s naturally a heated glass screen to ensure better visibility for third-hand buyers in 12 years’ time.

Enough sensible stuff! Tell me the engines in the Z4

Now it’s official. There will be three straight sixes on offer, stretching from a 201bhp 2.5 to a 302bhp twin-turbo 3.0 motor. Each is equipped with Efficient Dynamics in a bid to trim fuel economy (although read our slightly disappointing ED experiences in our long-term Mini Cooper S here).

The new Z4 range will be available with seven-speed twin-clutch boxes – like the latest 3-series – and Dynamic Drive Control remaps the responses of the throttle, steering, stability control and engine management so drivers can tailor the Z4's responses to their mood. This generation also ushers in a new naming policy. Out go nice straightforward badges, replaced by:

• Z4 sDrive23i, straight six 2.5, 201bhp, 184lb ft, 199g/km, 34.4mpg
• Z4 sDrive30i, straight six 3.0, 255bhp, 228lb ft, 199g/km, 34.0mpg
• Z4 sDrive35i, twin-turbo straight six 3.0, 302bhp, 295lb ft, 219g/km, 31.4mpg

Those names (redolent of thegrammarbustingX6range)? Perhaps the space bar isn’t working in Munich’s typewriters…

The interior has received much attention and there's a typically modern BM cockpit feel inside. There's also iDrive for the first time, plus a folding 9in digital display.

Expect the Z4 on sale by May 2009 costing from £30,000 in the UK...

BMW cancels CS four-door coupe

By Ben Whitworth

05 November 2008 15:00

If you think America’s Big Three are finding market conditions tough, Europe’s finest are sagging on the ropes, too. This week BMW announced it was axing the radical CS four-door coupe – this, after its recent cancellation of the X7 – while Mercedes recorded a 25% drop in North American sales this month.

It’s not looking good for BMW is it…

No indeed. In the last quarter, BMW’s profit after tax plummeted by 62.9% to €298m, compared to a healthy €803m for the same period in 2007, and the company faces a €1.3bn tax burden for the first three-quarters of 2008. On top of the news of the CS’s demise, BMW boss Norbert Reithofer yesterday announced that in addition to the recent reduction of 25,000 units, the company would reign in production by another 40,000 before the end of the year. The CS will be canned, according to Reithofer, 'because the vehicle does not meet the internal requirements for rates of return', even though it was to be twinned with the new 7-series.

The financial crisis will not, however, mothball the research and development alliance BMW has forged with Mercedes to produce engines both companies need to battle the Volkswagen Group, as well as collaborate on advanced hybrid technology, dual-clutch and automatic transmissions and driver assistance systems. Nor will it pour cold water on Munich’s vaunted Project I, it far-seeing programme to tackle sustainable urban transport with a range of lightweight two and four-wheeled vehicles that draw heavily from its motorbike experience.

Is anyone in decent shape…?

Within the last fortnight, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault and Fiat have all downgraded their 2008 earnings forecast, as European and global sales continue to stagnate and decline. The one beacon in the darkness, however, is the Volkswagen Group. Despite this pervasive pessimism, it defied the market this week and stuck by its optimistic forecast for 2009 – in the same quarter where Mercedes and BMW suffered, Europe’s biggest carmaker posted an 11% sales hike to a robust €28.9bn on the back of a 27% rise in its third-quarter net profit.

But the champagne won't be popping for long – poor sales of Seat in Europe and Bentley in America will make 2009 ‘a very tough year indeed’ according to VW's chief financial man Hans Dieter Pötsch.