The friends at MotorAuthority reported yesterday that the BMW Z4 will cease production next month. Before we published the news, we took a moment to confirm the information with our sources. And, YES, indeed, BMW decided to put an end to the Z4 model starting in August. 

This is a clear sign that the new 2009 BMW Z4 is just around the corner and it is just a matter of time until we will get rid of the ridiculous camouflage.

This is also a BMW strategic move since the german automaker will need to make room for the next generation BMW X3 that will move its production from Germany to Spartanburg, SC. We already learned in the past that the new 2009 BMW Z4 will be built in Regensburg, Germany.

Just a few days ago the top-end BMW X6 model, codenamed xDrive50i, was spotted near Spartanburg. While the xDrive50 is really not news to the bimmer fans, it is still interesting to see the minor design differences from the X6 xDrive35i. 

I think the main selling point of the BMW X6 xDrive50i will be the amazingly powerful 4.4 liter V8 twin-turbo engine that outputs 400 horsepower and 450lb-ft torque. 

We're positive that our regular readers remember all the details on the x50i, so we won't be repeating them, but in case you would like to catch up, our BMW X6 category will probably answer most of your questions.

In the mean time, here are some latest photos taken by the guys at MotorAuthority.

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Here is a rendering by the guys at Autoexpress of the new 2009 BMW Z4. Sources close to BMW told us that the rendering is not 100% accurate but they're not too far away from the "truth". 

In my opinion, if the new Z4 will turn out to be similar to the below rendering, then….I'm ALL FOR IT.

Let me ask you two questions:

1. What do you think of it?

2. Is BMW going into the right direction with their latest released and future models?

It was released earlier today that BMW is the United Kingdom's cleanest Premium Auto Maker. Premium is a key word here. But still, it wasn't Lexus, it wasn't Mercedes-Benz, it wasn't, okay, okay, you get the point… 

The study was done by an independent green company called Clean Green Cars. The study was done for all over the industry and labeled the BMW brand of cars the cleanest and the greenest of all premium cars sold on the U.K. BMW was found to have, from January until June of 2008, to have only produced an average of 161.64g/km. Lexus, owned by Hybrid toting Toyota, recorded 194.85g/km. Ouch! Supposedly the greenest automaker in the world is suddenly producing the least. Audi and Mercedes-Benz even did better with 177.36g/km and 192.85g/km. Jaguar went over the 200g/km mark and Porsche did an average of 275.64g/km. In all fairness, Porsche has the smallest line-up of cars and only makes sports cars. Read the rest of this entry »

Why is this on BMWblog you ask? Well I wanted to know as BMW enthusiasts how do you guys feel about the Nissan GT-R which is being compared to the BMW M3. The car as you know is extremely fast and has a 0-60 of 3.2 and in the latest Top Gear episode lapped the track right behind the Ferrari Enzo. I want to know how to BMW enthusiasts feel about a car that is priced the same as an M3 but competes with the likes of a Ferrari Enzo and Porsche Carrera GT. I for one Love BMW obviously so don't get me wrong but I think the M division has to step it up a notch. Please keep it nice

Article By CARversation.com 

Due to popular request through the multitude of emails we have received during the past few months, we, the BMWBlog team, decided to expand our brand recognition beyond the online medium, taking it offline, so therefore we are going to give away 50 BMWBlog decals. 

The vinyl decals are 10" x 1" and they can be placed on the side windows or the rear window. The first batch is fairly simple when it comes to design, but if our readers will request more or in a different shape or color, then we will have no choice but to order some more.

For our own cars, we decided to go with a larger size that incorporates our logo and as you will see in the pictures, it looks quite good. We did turn some heads while cruising down Michigan Ave in downtown Chicago

For the first 50 decals, we will be paying the postage, as long as you live in the United States. For those of you living outside U.S, we would like to apologize to you since, due to reduced funds, we cannot offer you the same free service, but if you would like to mail us an envelope with prepaid postage, we will gladly mail you one as well. 

And to be proactive, if any of you would like to have the same decal that we're sporting on our cars, please let us know and we will place an order. They shouldn't cost more than $2-$3.

Ok, that's it for now, here is our email address and we are looking forward to seeing your cars sporting proudly the BMWBlog brand.

More photos Read the rest of this entry »

I have always been fascinated with vintage advertisements and I have been an enthusiast collector of those old ads. I am also fascinated by the design quality and futuristic vision of older printed advertisements, ads that were created in an era where there is no internet and no online marketing campaigns.

As I have mentioned before many times, I am always impressed by BMW's marketing department and their vision in portraying their products in the best way possible, creating effective ad campaigns that draw attention. Just to refer to a recent marketing campaign launched by BMW in Moscow, Russia, Never Stand Still, you can clearly see the visionary ideas that are "cooked" inside the BMW headquarter in Munich. From my understanding, the BMW marketing campaigns are most of the time outsourced to ingenious marketing firms, while others are created by their own employees.

So, to get to the point, the other day while looking for some older BMW ads, I came across an amazing thread on Germancarzone.com. The topic was started by one of their long time members who goes by the screen name BMW Power. With his permission, we are going to show you some amazing design work that will impress even the non-BMW fanboys. While browsing through the same topic, I noticed even more ads posted by the guys at bmwe36blog.com, owned by Tony, one of our long time readers. With this ocassion, I would like to thank him also for the great reserach work in finding all those vintage printed ads. In our compilation below, we included some newer advertisements as well, to show the full picture here.

To conclude this short introduction, I hope you will enjoy them and if you have any more ads that we missed, hidden somewhere on your hard drive, please feel free to email them to us at

Don't forget to leave a comment here telling everyone which one is your favorite ad.

Continued

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Finally, it's up! This is the news video from last week that YouTube didn't want to upload. It was originally 12:40, but I figured it would load up since it was only about 900mb. YouTube allows up to a little over a 1000mb to upload for a video. Enough technical stuff and more news! There was a lot of news from last week, and it took me quite a few takes to get the time down to 4:38. How I did it, I have no idea… 

This has all of the news of BMW's Red Square, Moscow 7-Series Hourglass release, the official photos and info on the new 2009 3-Series, among other things. 

Anyway, enjoy!

New 7-Series Tech Analysis

BMW 335d German Spy Shots Read the rest of this entry »

I apologize to you all for not having a news video up last week. I had to redo it because YouTube would not post it, for some odd reason. I kept trying to get it to upload, but it just wouldn't. So that video is currently uploading while I'm posting this one. 

There was a lot to cover this week, so here it is. I hope you've noticed the difference in the videos since day 1. They seem to be getting shorter and easier to do…

Anyway, enjoy!

E90 Facelift Real Life Photos

iPhone 3G Charging Issues Read the rest of this entry »

I was checking out Autoblog just a few minutes ago and found where one of their readers spied the new E89 Z4 in action on the highway in Southern California. Charlie Hung spotted the Z4 and managed to collect three shots of the new car in action on his camera phone. That's new school car spying in action for you right there. 

We have been seeing the next-gen Z4 quite a bit, lately, and we can only speculate at this moment on the exact design of it.

For the time being, check out some new shots of the vert cruising around SoCal. 

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With less than two years left before the official launch date, the 2010 BMW 5 Series is being heavily tested these days. The 6th generation BMW 5 series, codenamed F10, as expected, will import some elements from the CS Concept and some of the main features include 8-speed auto with an AWD option available, Park Distance Control and an around-view monitor system. 

The new model will also get bigger wheels, the standard size is 17 inch, wheel sizes 18 and 19 inch will be optional. Due to the wider track and lower height the all new styling of the new 5-Series will make it look almost like a coupe. Power comes from a large choice of 6 gas engines (ranging from 2.5 litre 218hp to 4.4 litre V8 twin-turbo 408hp) and four new generation of reduced-emission diesels (ranging from 2.0 litre 175hp to 3.0 litre 300hp). 

The new car is expected to drop slightly in weight, despite a modest increase in size, thanks to the use of light-weight materials. The 5 will be loaded with all the electronic goodies, including new electronic damper and active yaw control systems.

I remember some of the first renderings back in 2007 that were posted by us and looking back at them, I come to realize that the graphic designers were quite off. While the headlights somewhat resemble the CS Concept and new 7 Series, the rear design is far off from the real deal. 

[Source: MotorAuthority ]

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We just posted a video of the BMW 335d interior, but in the mean time, we came across more footage, so we decided to compile them into a single thread.

We figured it would be easier for everyone to follow up without having to browse back and forth.

The following videos show the 2009 BMW 3 Series in action, being test driven somewhere in Germany and also the videos focus on the new exterior and interior changes.

More videos after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

Great day today for all the bimmer fans. Tons of new 3 Series photos and videos were released today, which btw, can be seen on our homepage, and now there is a new video that just popped up of the BMW 335d interior. 

It's only 1:46 long and it's worth seeing the new iDrive knob in action.

Not bad at all!! The M-Sport Package looks really good on the facelift version. It absolutely gives the sedan version an aggressive look, something that I was missing on my current '08 335i.

What do you think?

Just posted the BMW 3 Series wallpapers and now it's time to turn our attention to the 3 Series Facelift Wagon/Touring version. Interesting that more high-res photos were released of the touring and it's quite a looker. 

I have never been a big fan of Touring models, but this one, looks "mean", to paraphrase my high school nephew.

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