It’s a busy time for BMW with new updates across its range. But how will these cars look in five years time? Will that bright sparkling Beamer be as attractive after a few visits to your local garage?

The German manufacturer is extremely eager for people to keep using BMW servicing rather than independents. To help its cause it is actively pushing its inclusive servicing offers with all of the new models.

In short this allows you to make a single advance payment which covers you for the first five years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. It might seem like a big expense in the short term, but you will at least know the servicing costs in advance.

Never ones to shy away from a fight, it seems that BMW are wading into the electric vehicle battlefield. The German giants are heading into next month’s Detroit Auto Show with the impossibly posy-looking Concept ActiveE, with strong hints that it may actually see production.

The Concept ActiveE is the latest piece to roll out of BMW’s Project i campaign, which is dedicated to creating low-emission city cars and follows the MINI electric car out of the door and promises “CO2-free Mobility”.

BMW have just released a new car that is set to take the performance car world by storm. The new BMW M3 GTS is a hardcore version of the BMW M3.
The German manufacturer has decided to follow in the footsteps of Lamborghini, Porsche and Aston Martin in making an extreme race version of their supercar. This new M3 has been stripped of any weight and tips the scales at just 3300lb including the internal roll-cage and six-point race harness.

BMW fended off the competition, including Honda, to take their place at the top of the Fleet News reliability survey as the most reliable company car manufacturer.

Fleet News is a sister publication of the well respected car guide, Parker’s, and the annual survey covers 840,000 cars from 50 of the biggest UK contract hire companies.

Manufacturers were graded by counting the number of vehicles on a fleet per 1,000 that broke down.

BMW received the same points as Honda yet more companies voted for BMW as first placed manufacturer.

Although the German manufacturer’s profits have fallen thanks to this year’s trying economy, the BMW group remain optimistic. Thanks to recent indications of recovery, they are hoping to make a positive turnover by the end of the year across all their brands.

The fall in returns has been blamed on a decrease in consumer spending and has resulted in a loss of 73.8% (down to £70.5 million) with total sales of cars across the BMW group including BMW, Rolls Royce and MINI brands down 15.7% from the year before.

The latest BMW 3 Series emphasises the German motor experts’ intent on producing eco-friendly and economical vehicles that do not compromise on performance.

The BMW 316d saloon encompasses BMW’s award winning EfficientDynamics technology and returns impressive statistics.

With better combined fuel consumption (62.8 mpg) than two of its main rivals – Audi A4 TDIe 136 and Ford Mondeo ECOnetic TDCi 115 – and more eco -friendly, emitting just 118g/km CO2 (just 35 pounds annual road tax), the BMW 316d is set to finish top of the class yet again.

The BMW 3 Series Saloon and Convertible have been named best compact executive car and best convertible. The two high-profile awards were awarded to the motoring company by th UK’s biggest selling weekly motoring magazine: Auto Express. 

The panel of motoring experts from the magazine assessed the two cars and later awarded them the two prestiduous awards.

The road test team from Auto Express said: ‘BMW’s superior dynamics won the day. A model range that includes everything from a diesel variant capable of 62.8mpg to the supercar-chasing 414bhp M3 is unbeatable’ about the Saloon.

Just after they decided to withdraw from F1 at the end of this season, BMW announced that they will bring a highly efficient sports concept car to the Frankfurt Motor Show. The EfficientDynamics Vision will be taken to the show in September along with BMW’s production versions of the ActiveHybrid7 and ActiveHybrid X6 concepts that were shown at the show previously.

A member of the BMW management board, Dr Klaus Draeger, said in his statement: ‘the BMW EfficientDrive Vision will demonstrate how efficient a sports car can be.’

BMW are set to release a smaller and more affordable version of the X5 in the coming months.

Having just launched the MINI First – a cheaper entry level model – BMW look set to continue their pursuit of cornering the mid end as well as the high end of the market.

The BMW X1 will come equipped with all of the EfficientDynamics features aimed at eco-friendly motoring including start-stop technology and Brake Energy Regeneration, amongst other Green extras.

The new BMW Z4 is receiving favourable reviews and looks set to be incredibly popular, especially if we are in for the ‘Indian summer’ that we have been predicted.

Car Chat started the ball rolling in April as we gave the new Z4 the thumbs up, in fact, we didn’t want to give the car back to BMW but were forced to by our financers!

Since our review, many well respected publications have been impressed with BMW’s latest drop-top, none more so that probably the most respected car journalist of them all, Jeremy Clarkson.

What Car? Magazine have named the BMW 318d ES as the Best Green Executive Car in their 2009 Green Car Awards.

With combined fuel economy of an impressive 60.1 miles per gallon and CO2 emissions of just 123g/km the BMW 318d ES is the most efficient and eco friendly 3 series ever made by the Bavarian Motor Works company.

Since 2007 BMW’s eco friendly EfficientDynamics have been used to great effect with the BMW 118d receiving the Green Car of the Year award in 2008 and now the BMW 318d ES receiving its green accolade this year.

BMW have been crowned Which? Best Car Manufacturer for 2009.

Which? Are the consumer experts, renowned as one of the most respected in the UK and their Cheif Executive, Peter Vicary-Smith gave a glowing reference to the German car manufacturers, saying that BMW vehicles always ‘excel’ in Which? road tests.

Throughout the past year BMW have implemented their innovative EfficientDynamics (including stop-start technology) which has certainly given the Bavarian Motor Works company a competitive edge in terms of green engineering.

This has lead to BMW receiving a further two awards including Green Car of the Year for the 318d ES and the Mini Cooper S.

A special edition M3 coupe is set to be launched by BMW in the coming weeks. The Edition as it is named has been lowered for a lower centred driving position and for improved handling (oh and for aesthetic purposes also – if looks could kill, this M3 would be Carlos The Jackal).

The edition comes in three different colour schemes; BMW individual Monte Carlo blue, BMW individual Dakar yellow, and Alpine white and also features bespoke colour coded leather trim.  Dark chrome adorns the grille, twin exhaust, wing mirrors, side and bonnet vents, with matching dark black gloss 19 inch alloys.

G-Power may sound like a brand of washing detergent, a Marvel comic character or a member of D12, but it is actually the name of a German tuning company responsible for breaking the world record recently for the fastest coupe on the planet.

These crazy Germans managed to force 740 horses under the hood of a BMW M6 and managed to create an absolute beast! The twin supercharged 5 litre V10 powered M6 flys from 0-62mph in just 4.4 seconds and 0-124mph in a staggering 9.6 seconds with a top speed of 230mph.

Motorbike nuts have been waiting for this news for a while now: BMW are set to launch the production line version of their S1000RR superbike in 2010.
The road legal version of BMW’s fastest superbike was launched at Monza, home of motorcycle racing – at the weekend amid fanfare and anticipation.

The BMW SS1000RR will weigh just 204kg and with 193 horses at a seat-of-yer-pants 13,000rpm is sure to have speedsters everywhere salivating.
The engine – a compact straight four – weighs just 60kg and is similarly designed to those used in BMW’s F 1 engines, comprising two exhaust valves per cylinder.
Release dates are yet to be confirmed but watch this space to find out exactly when you will be able to feel the force of the SS1000RR between your thighs!