According to preliminary reports, BMW is looking to roll out 3 models under the BMW product line as well as one Mini model from the new plant. This would perhaps be BMW’s move into the continent especially with the growing market in Brazil that recorded a 2.9% in 2011 although it was below the forecast of the major automotive agencies there. With these numbers, it is no surprise as to why BMW wants to target Brazil and the surrounding markets with Volkswagen upping the ante in other markets worldwide.

Brazil’s leading automotive brand is Fiat which sold 22% of the total industry volume in 2011 while BMW’s major competitor Volkswagen rolled out 20.4% of the total sales there. GM came third while Ford and Renault followed suit. This means that without being in the top 5 of top selling brands in Brazil, BMW is moving forward and surely aggressively into the market which analysts believe to be quite an ambitious move. The company has yet to announce the exact timeline and cost of the new plant but with these plans in place, it is surely looking to establish the BMW brand in the South American continent once the factory takes off.

This will be going public in 2013 while a year later will see the i8 sports care coming out. From there, more i model will be rolling out to meet the rising demand for alternative fuel vehicles as well as to overcome the problem of rising fuel prices affecting the world over.

The i3 concept is reported to be able to go for about 130 to 160 km when fully charged. It is a 170 horsepower rear-wheel drive electric vehicle which is very much performance based, requiring only slightly less than 8 seconds to get from zero to hundred and top speeding at 150km/h.

Meanwhile, the future plan is also to produce the i8 sports car which if it is based on the concept plug-in hybrid model will come with a 3 cylinder combustion engine that can boost up 220 horses. This coupe version will be made to run for up to 35km on electric power through its lithium-ion battery pack.

Lacey is currently employed with Google and was previously engaged with Microsoft where he was the team lead of the Microsoft Flight Simulator game series developers. The UK born engineer was working with a London-based 3D graphics company when he was seconded to Microsoft after the company was bought over by the operating system giant. Apart from the Flight Simulator series, he was also involved with other renowned games like the Combat Flight Simulator 2, Flight Simulator 2004 and FSX.

On top of that, he was also involved with Xbox games like Crimson Skies, NFL Fever and many others. He co-founded the SwitchGear software company after leaving Microsoft where he then later joined Google where he was involved with the development of the Chrome video feature. He is survived by his wife of 10 years and 2 children. The Sonata owner could be charged for vehicular manslaughter as he was reportedly to have been drinking prior to the accident.

On hand to take over the daunting post is Willisch who will effectively be the new CEO of BMW North America come 1 October 2011. He is pretty much a renowned figure within the company where his career had started in the sales line in Germany. He would continue to develop his career, running and managing more sales location where he eventually took over sales for the Europe and Japan markets. Hence, his experience and sales record would be more than enough for him to take over the highly competitive American markets.

The new models will be designed and developed through its Oxfordshire manufacturing plant in Cowley that will involve a £500million investment. The first model to receive this treatment will be the F56, a new 3 door hatchback Mini and will most likely be launched in 2012 and start going on sale the following year. On top of that, they are also planning for a new Clubman estate model called the Spacebox which will be competing in the MPV (Multipurpose Vehicle) segment, surely a first for the compact car brand.

The BMW, 3 cylinder engine will be used in the new Mini model which is set to boost out between 120 to 160 horses while there will also be a 2.0 liter engine capable of pushing out 230 horses.

For those who know BMW cars, the 7 series will definitely make heads turn and make on-lookers brim with envy for sure. To say the least, the company do not try and make the car look any smaller than it is because of the range and positioning of the 7 series. You will find that one look at this car gives you the impression that it is big, bulky and probably loud. From the back, a lot of people feel that it looks a lot like an SUV instead of a sedan car really. If you look at the front, it is designed using the CS Concept that exudes huge noses as well as the sharp and attractive eyes as its headlamps. Prices for the 7 series are RM618,800 for the 730i, RM748,000 for the 740i and RM648,000 for the 730d versions respectively.

Performance of engine

There are in total 3 different variations of the 7 series which are the 740i, 750i and the 730d, all of which are turbocharged engines. Among the three, the 750i is the top range which is comes fitted with a V8 turbocharged N63B44 4.4 liter engine. The car produces up to a whooping 407 horsepower between 5,500 to 6,400rpm and a peak torque of 600Nm between 1,750rpm and 4,500rpm. You will be able to get from 0 to 100km/h in a bit more than 5 seconds.

A lower version engine is the 740i which typically is the twin turbocharged N54B30 3.0 liter inline 6 engine. It is capable of giving you about 320 horsepower at 5,800rpm. The peak torque of 450Nm can be achieved at 1,500rpm where you will most likely be able to get to 100km/h in about 6 seconds or slightly less. The 730d is essentially the diesel version of the 7 series which comes with an inline-6 turbodiesel engine. This version gives you up to 245 horsepowers at 4,000rpm, and peak torque of 540Nm from 1,750rpm to 3,000rpm. Although expected, the 7 series did not come with the 8 speed transmission system but comes standard with the 6-speed instead. This is where you will be greeted with the ultra fast lock-up clutch function which essentially allow you to shift down up to 4 gears at any time.

Suspension and handling

In both the 740 and 750i versions, you will get the air suspension in the rear areas which adopts the multi-link suspension while the front applies the double wishbone design. This was first introduced on the X5. The suspension system is an all-aluminum Dynamic Damping Control system as well as the Dynamic Drive which is an optional feature which uses active anti-roll bars. You can use the Dynamic Damping Control system in various modes like Comfort, Normal, Sports and Sports plus. All these will customize to help you with assisting in steering, behavior of accelerator pedal as well as gearshifts of the automatic transmissions.

The Integral Active Steering system is one that allows you to change the angle of your steering wheel that depends largely on the movement, the wheel rotations speed, and lateral acceleration. Compared to the previous Active Steering system, this newer version allow the moving up the steering wheel to another 3 degrees.

Inside the 7 Series

On the 7 series, you will get the long wheelbase version as well, which is about 140 millimeters longer that comes with an option of a normal back seat bench or 2 single seats and an iDrive controller console in the middle. This is where you can adjust the seats to around 70 millimeters. You could also choose to have a DVD player hooked up to the 2 screens fitted at the back of the 2 front seats as well as massage function in the chairs. If you choose to have this, you will have the massage bubbles fitted in the seats which gives you great comfort. The proprietary BMW Black Panel is typically an analog meter panel which is actually a full colored LCD panel with 4 chrome dials. The dials, needles and scale information are physical items while all others are illuminated through its LCD.

Navigating the iDrive

For the iDrive, the 7 series is fitted with the latest version as compared to all the lower Series BMWs. As you will notice and know by now, the iDrive system gives you control over all the essential functions when you are in the car like GPS navigation, pairing with your mobile phone and very importantly entertainment. You will notice significant changes in the controller knob as well as the display of the system. Learning to use the iDrive will surely take a while where you will notice 3 different input modes. You can either turn the buttons to the left or right for vertical scrolling, push them in the four-way of top, down, left or right or tilt the knobs which are suitable for horizontal scrolling and pressing them if you want to select a specific function, very similar to the Enter key on the computer keyboard.

The interface of the iDrive have changed to be more user-friendly and you will notice some sort of intuitive and behavioral functions. On top of that, you will also notice 4 main shortcut buttons which you can select to choose between radio, telephone, CD or navigation GPS. The LINGUATRONIC system is a revolutionary function that allows for voice command where upon activation via a control on the steering wheel, receives and analyze your voice commands and then displayed on the iDrive interface. Compared to the lower versions of 8.8 inch displays, the 7 series comes with a larger 10.2 inch resolution LCD panel capable of giving you up to 1280×480 pixels which are far clearer and shaper. The ConnectedDrive system in the iDrive is one that you can use to browse the internet where it will connect you through various telecommunication standards like GPRS, EDGE of the typical GSM networks although 3G is yet to be supported. If your mobile phone is connected to the iDrive, this function will work to your advantage and convenience. One thing about this feature is that you can only browse the web when the car is stagnant and you can do so by using the iDrive knob of the system as your mouse pointer.

To use the navigation maps, the hard disk space here is essential to store all the maps you need to help you get around while you can also use them to store MP3 music files that can be transferred from your USB players and such. As per its previous version, it can rip CDs into smaller files and then you no longer need to load the CD to listen to them. One thing cool about this function is that the MP3 files can be played with the music information like the song title and artist details downloaded through the CDDB database online.

Another cool function of the iDrive system in the 7 series is the integrated video functions where you can view them through the wide angle camera which are fitted in the rear bumper and another 2 cameras in the front bumpers. If you need help, the manual is uploaded and available through the iDrive system where you can read and learn more about using the system. You can also use the 3D maps downloaded on the iDrive Navigation system. This is where you can display the the maps in split or full mode, thanks to the large 10.2 inch display screen provided. If you choose split mode, you will most likely get to view the route and map concurrently or if you prefer you can view the whole map displayed.

Standard accessories of the 7 series include a single DVD player with auxiliary input capabilities and USB input. Alternatively, you can add in a TV system, a digital radio receiver or a 6 DVD changer as well. As for the audio quality, you can upgrade to the BMW Professional HiFi system or go for the best which is the 16 speakers BMW Individual High End Audio system which are commanded by the Neodym magnetic drives and Hexacone speakers powered by a 9 channel amplifier.

On the long wheelbase versions, you can choose to have either one of the 2 versions, the first type is the Rear Seat Entertainment System where you can use the remote control to operate the system displayed in the 8 inch monitors mounted on the back of the front seat. This is where you can actually view different sources of entertainment at any time on the 2 LCD screens. Otherwise you can use the Rear Seat Entertainment High System which gives you a larger 9.2 inch iDrive controller mounted on the armrest in the middle of the rear seats.

Driving the 7 Series

The car is built on high tensile steel with and all-aluminum roof while the engine hoods, doors, front springs and fenders all made out of aluminum as well which makes it lighter. Airbags are included while ABS is also standard. The ABS is also connected to the Adaptive Brake Lights that activates to give you more light when ABS is on. If you jam on the brakes to a standstill the Hazard lights flash on automatically. The car comes standard with Bi-Xenon headlamps as well as daytime driving lights are also included. Most of the lights function around sensors that dims when light intensity are high and functions pretty well the other way. Wipers too are automatic. In terms of headlamps, you are given 2 choices, the The Headlight Assistant system activates when it does not detect oncoming cars via their lights and turns off when a car approaches. The Adaptive Headlight Range Control controls the angle of the light which are useful when you are driving around corners. An LED display that tells you whether the Lane Change Warning is on or off is used if you are overtaking and vibrates the steering wheel if you are planning to do so and a car is at the blindspot next to you. An integrated Land Departure Warning system which is used to detect the markings on the road. The steering wheel vibrates if you are driving off the lane.

Cameras are used in the Speed Limit Display system which detect road signs and inform you if you are off the speed limit of the highway. The Active Cruise Control let you decide how far you would like to be with the car up front as well as to set your cruise control speed for the drive. The revolutionary Night Vision shows you whatever is lurking in the dark if you cannot see what’s up in front.

BMW’s venture into the SUV market came through with its X5 vehicles. The E70 engine fitted version is known as the ‘Sports Activity Vehicle’ which comes available in 3 different variations. You can choose between the 3 liter petrol versions, the 3 liter turbodiesel or the very enticing 4.8 V8 petrol versions respectively. The newer version looks more articulate than its predecessor which was more bulky and somehow looks careless. This is the car that gives you the aggressiveness persona while exuding a certain luxury in its nature. It is slightly longer and wider as compared to those that came before this while the wheel base is increased by more than 11 centimeters.

On the inside, you will notice that the X5 is extremely spacious. Essentially, the X5 is perfect for 5 adults to fit in although you could go for the additional 2 seats at the back, but being more a natural 4WD vehicle than an MPV, the 2 additional seats really would take up your boot space and would leave you with very minimal storage space left, so unless it is necessary, you might want to give it a miss. Otherwise, you can rest assure that boot space is very huge as the back seats can be folded to give you more space than you can ever imagine.

You get a lot of room for your feet and getting in and out of the car is almost effortless. The dashboard comes with some elegant wood finish while there are enough accessories that are almost perfect in form and function all round the vehicle. This is the car which you will find the BMW’s own iDrive system which are also custom fitted in the 5 and 3 series as well. The GPS navigation system takes a while to get used to but once you get the hang of it, you become somewhat overly dependent on it. The iDrive, which is typically a navigation system with Bluetooth capabilities is not for everyone so you might need to find something to go with it, otherwise you will be finding more problems than convenience there. Otherwise, as an audio player and for storage purposes, you will wonder why haven’t anyone figured this out earlier.

The car’s performance is one that you can be thankful for because it gives you the push you need as well as the pull whenever it is necessary as well. On the entry model, which is the 3 liter version, you get a total of 520 Nm of torque at 2000 rpm. The car comes standard with the ZF 6 Speed STEPTRONIC gear transmission with very convenient driving experience. One thing good about this car is that its all wheel drive system gives you the handling you need albeit its tall nature.

For such a big and tall car like this, you will find that it handles pretty well unlike other cars of this nature which gives you the feeling that you are maneuvering a huge ship instead of driving a car. It is fast enough to give you the power you need but might be hard on the knocks, then again, it is a 4 wheeler which naturally is tall, so you should not expect much comfort that comes with other versions.

Typically, the X5 is not designed if you are an off-road adventurer as it is more luxurious than rugged. The 3.0 turbodiesel version is CBU which is sold at RM 568,800 that comes with free service for 3 years. Driving the X5 really will not give you the feeling that you are off to bully the ‘smaller’ cars but is more an eye-candy. This is a definite head turner and should not be regarded as a 4WD in any sense. After all, at half a million Ringgit, you will want to take care of the car as much as you like.

The Z4 is one of the cars which are popular for its handling of the car in its 6-cylinder engine which is powerful enough. Although this could be seen as equal to some other competing cars in this range which might be cheaper, you will find that the Z4 offers a great experience in driving, after all the design of the car is definitely going to get you some positive first impressions to begin with.

BMW previously launched the Z3 which although was a revelation in design and style had its shortcomings which have since been rectified and enhanced with the Z4. The Z3 then came with the standard long front design that houses the front-engine and rear drive system. This has not changed with the Z4 so far which comes with the standard covertible or non-convertible versions. Alternatively you can also choose the 2 different versions of the roadster which comes with the 3.0i and 3.0si variants respectively.

Standard features of the Z4 3.0i are the very elegant vinyl upholstery, anti-lock brakes, stability control and 17 inch wheels and fitted with a 3.0 liter inline 6-cylinder engine that gives you up to 215 horsepower in the 6 speed manual gear transmission although the automatic transmission feature is an optional package.

The sportier version, which is the 3.0si comes with greater power, pushing out to 255 horsepower on its same 6-cylinder engine. Its interior design are more refined and more stability found in its 18-inch wheels. The coupe version comes in only 1 version which is the 3.0si version. There is the upscale M version of the Z4 if you are interested. Any Z4 model which are produced after 2006 are considered the better versions as they are better off in performance and design. The Z4 is retailed at RM348,000 for the 2.0i while the 3.0i Roadster s sold at RM468,000 and the M coupe sells for RM538,000.

The 323i Sedan version now comes with the N52 engine while the Sports version can rack up to 190 horsepower and 230Nm of torque instead of the previous version which produces up to 218 horsepower and 250Nm of torque. Interiorly speaking, most of the items are similar but one noticeable addition would be the iDrive system where you will be able o see the 8.8inch high resolution LCD screen which is highly functional that comes with an 80 GB hard disk storage system to save the navigation data as well as to keep your music library.

The iDrive system basically functions as your on board computer multimedia system that saves your music from your MP3 players, iPod or your thumbdrives as well as rip music off your CDs and then storing them in the system. From there you no longer need to bring your media and change them every time. This is the system that you will find the new 5 series versions of the BMW giving and providing you with vital information like traffic information, music and audio collection and such. This is where you will be able to make full use of the 8.8 inch Control Display with high image resolution that display to you some breathtaking graphics and easy to use menu to navigate through the functions. As if to prepare you for higher versions, if you are able to use this, when you decide to upgrade to the 5 series later, you will have no problem doing so. This navigation system also comes with an integrated hard disk where you will be able to store up to 80GB of storage files of media and such. If you do not like to carry your media around with you, you can then store them in the car or have the CD player rip them off from your audio CDs as well.

Other additions to the facelift include the optimised all-wheel drive BMW xDrive that helps enhances your driving stability, driving dynamics and traction. The DSC function is used for brake intervention control that allows torque compensation that helps increases stability when driving on bends. The facelift models are priced at RM236,800 for the BMW 320i, RM248,800 for the Sports version, RM275,800 for the 323i and RM309,800 for the Sports version. The 335i will put you off more costing RM539,800 as it is not CKD, while the rest are.

Custom fitted with a 2.0 liter inline 4 Valvetronic engine, the 320i is capable to churning up to 156 horsepower at 6400 rpm while the 320i SE is only able to give you 6 horsepowers less. The car takes slightly less than 10 seconds to get from 0 to 100km/h which is somewhat similar to the base model. The extra kick in overtaking maneuvers did not quite live up to its name and standard, where it takes a while to get to its top speed of somewhere around 215km/h.

Essentially, the 320i Sports version is comfortable to say the least. Equipped with the M Sports suspension, it is a comfortable ride as well as superb handling that will give you what you need when traveling. You can pretty much take sharp corners with confidence with this one due to its lowered nature as well as the back diffuser.

Inside the 320i Sports, you will find the M Leather steering wheel which typically is an eye-candy. The sports seat pretty much wraps around you so that you do not move around much with some great built-in accessories like the USB compatible audio system where you can plug in your iPod or your MP3 players in the midst of the cup holder which is refrigerated. Priced at RM245,800, the BMW 320 Sports is not an overpriced car although you might consider settling for the standard version which comes with pretty much the same performance for a cheaper alternative.