Zero (◕‿◕)
Welcome to "Number #0" of this maybe-to-be-newsletter. It is a draft for a weekly mail about cars (well, to be honest mostly Bimmers …)
Hello there.
This is about an idea.
A weekly mail with information about cars, focusing on BMW. The aim is not primarily to give you a complete overview - the only thing complete in this mail will be my opinion … but I want to share some news that might be interesting for you as well. A look into my personal treasure trove of links, thoughts and saved videos…
Let me know what you think about it!
Write a comment, leave a thumb up or down in the comments section or just give it a heart - and you might also subscribe. With a bit of luck this kind of mail will find you next week also …
– Thomas
The BMW XM Shines At Coachella
For Coachella BMW covered five XMs in chrome wraps and with black ‘Coachella’ text along their sides. A mirror on 22” wheels - what an accessory! You can see it at the @BMW social channels, as well as at some influencer channels. The hashtag #DareToBeYou reveal some additional pictures.
How Porsche And Mercedes
Are About To Win The EV Range War
What is important, when it comes to electric cars? Is it the steering? The engine power? The luxury? For car manufactures it is more likely the factor of sustainability and gaining knowledge in one specific field: Batteries!
CarScoops looks into the investments Porsche and Mercedes did in this field, to positioning themselves for future by investing into the next generation of batteries.
BMW’s Most Powerful Electric Car Now Is A 7 Series
This week the BMW i7 M70 premiered. It offers more than 500 kilometres of electric range, but most “importantly” also 485 kW - that equals 660 hp (for the old guys here). The sprint from 0 to 100 km/h will be done in 3.7 seconds.
To give you a comparison: The top-line BMW M4 CSL needs the same time for that, but weights only 1.7 tonnes compared to the 2.7 tonnes of the i7. That’s insane!
More of a racing car than luxury saloon - as german website Golem puts it.
Did you notice: in the pictures you can see the i7 M70 in his natural habitat!
Some Saudi Arabian desert … 😎 (Press Release)
… and the Most Powerful BMW Hybrid Now Is The XM
When we talk about POWER let’s not forget the BMW XM LABEL RED, which also debut this week. The SUV offers a stunning 550 kW (748 hp) and a peak of 1,000 Newtonmeter. If you are not so much of a car guy: that’s a lot!
Or to put it into perspective: the unit of “Newtonmeter” (Nm) measures how much torque there is - basically, how much power you get from the engine (hopefully) to the wheels. Your everyday Ford Focus can produce 170 Nm. The XM does 6 times more!
The Red Label will do the sprint 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds (How much time the Ford Focus needs, you ask? Well, the most recent 1.0l EcoBoost needs 12.1 seconds …).
Oh, and compare it to the i7 right above!
The i7 though offers even more a torque: 1,015 Nm.
But enough numbers now!
Did Anyone Say “Boring Electric SUV”?
No? Thought so, when I saw the new Mercedes-Maybach EQS for around 300,000 Euro. And then “only” 950Nm and about 570 km range! Tzz! 😉
Wait: The BMW X7 vs Dacia Sandero?
The complete opposite of the Mercedes EQS - namely entertaining - is this video of the german CarWOW Youtube Channel. They compared the BMW X7 with the Dacia Sandero in regards of handling. And what should I say: in the end it’s a 2:2.
… And Then There’s The Sandero vs A Bike?
Even more fun (and better to understand for the english speaking audience of this mail) is the comparison James May (of TopGear / The Grand Tour) did recently. He compared the cheapest car in Europe to his custom build carbon fibre racing cycle.
Meet Spike, Your New MINI Companion
To quote BMW Group’s social media channel: “Your paw-fect companion – introducing the reimagined Spike 🐾”
Fans may know Spike since his debut in 2001. Now the cute little English Bulldog gets a little overhaul and transforms into a digital Intelligent Personal Assistant, being present in every MINI of the future. (Press Release)
With it, MINI jumps on a trend that is something – especially in the asian markets, where cute little Anime figures became the interface of cars.
I like it much - makes me want to drive a MINI now!
Polestar Just Showed Their New Electric SUV
The Polestar 4 electric SUV starts at $60,000, offering nearly 500 km of range and no rear windshield! The Verge has all the info.
A new M2, and a new M2 less …
Well, the first BMW M2 arrive at dealerships and customers. And as soon as they come, they will go – like this one: First G87 M2 Down. Sad.
How to buy a BMW in the future
In a recent interview with the german newspaper Münchner Merkur, BMW Board Member for Sales, Pieter Nota, laid out in detail how customers will buy their BMW online in the future.
This will be possible through the new “agency model”, which replaces traditional dealerships and will put the BMW AG as a direct seller in place - much like Tesla does it already.
The new system will be rolled out for MINI from 2024 and for BMW from 2026 in Europe. In China, MINI is selling cars online since March 2023.
The Car Shows in China Are Back
After a tough time during the Corona pandemic, the Auto Shanghai is back. China’s biggest car show sees a lot of new concepts and debuts - like the Polestar, or the BMW models. The show is full of BEV - all electric cars - and concept cars.
Autocar.co.uk has all the pictures and details.
Talking about China: Time Changes for German Car Brands!
The Auto Shanghai is not only a show, it is also an important signal to the world.
A signal coming from the chinese car brands: We Are Going To Hund You!
On the eve of the show, Volkswagen had to announce it lost its market leadership in China - to the chinese brand BYD! For three decades, VW dominated business in the Far East with its combustion engines, now BYD is pulling away with its electric cars.
The western car brands are in danger. China is an important market not only for VW: BMW sells about 30% of its cars in China.
And the chinese brands do not stop there. Since last year BYD, Nio, MG, smart, Zeekr, Lynk&Co are pushing hard to get into the markets in Europe and the US. Especially for BEVs they can make pretty good offers in terms of electric range, technology and quality - while production costs are low for them.
Brand and prestige become less important when consumers talk about range, smart charging performance and connectivity to their mobile phones. And when it comes to the quality of cars - for years the heart of Western brands - Chinese brands have caught up!
Companies like SIXT also see it that way: In Europe, the car rental company opted for a huge deal with BYD, buying 100,000 electric cars from them. Once upon a time, BMW and Volkswagen were the standards at SIXT. Now they are pushing BYD and MG into the market.
You might argue, but as Markus Fasse puts it in the german newspaper Handelsblatt: “No one will buy a German electric car in the long run because the brand once built beautiful internal combustion engines or because it refines the interior with a lot of chrome and leather”.
Hint: In Germany SIXT offers the all-electric BYD Atto 3 for just about 30 Euros/day as a rental. Try it and get an impression to compare it to your VW Golf, or even the BMW iX1 some day …
The Most Sold BMW model?
You might see the numbers in the picture below with a pint of salt, but it gives you an impression of which car is most important to BMW.
BMW X1 and the 7 Series had a generation change, which explain the lower numbers.
All in all BMW sold 2.1 million cars in 2022, a change of -5,1% compared to 2021, but still good enough to have sold more cars then Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
Last, But Not Least Important:
Road Rage Is The Most Prevalant Cause of Car Accidents … so calm down, before you get into the car. Please.
And then there’s this nice sculpture at the Design Week in Milan, which was revealed recently. You’ll find the background of the why, how and who here.
That’s it for this week!
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