While this car is probably not testing for the US market (or any market since it is not taped up at all) it still is ok to dream sometimes! We are fairly sure many of you would be interested in a 5 door hatch like this, in say: 123d form. It has about 200 HP, 295 ft/lbs. of torque and achieves around 44 mpg. in mixed driving. Performance wise this car can hit 60 in just under 7 seconds and has an available manual transmission so it is no slouch!
Update: We now have added direct links to the Flash versions of the German catalogs, which allow for zooming. It is difficult to say from these catalogs and photos which are of the Saddle Brown and which are of Chestnut. From what we gather Chestnut is going to be more “brown” than “orange”. Continue onto the original post for the new wheel options broken down by model for the US.
Our good friends over at AUSmotive were kind enough to steer us towards this model guide.
It includes all BMW models and MINI/Rolls Royce models since there inception into the BMW group. There are simple line drawings, engine details as well as a brief synopsis of each individual model.
It is a nice way to brush up on your history of cars for those random pop quizzes about BMW your enthusiast friends give you, it is essentially a “Cliff’s Notes” for BMW produced automobiles. All in all a nice little guide.
As we had mentioned earlier in the year, when BMW moved the majority of US bound 3 series production to outside of Germany, BMW is adapting to worldwide economic conditions in order to increase profitability.
We could further elaborate on this after several announcements yesterday by BMWAG but to put it simply: We can not analyze the situation any better than our dear friend Jonathan Spira. Jonathan is CEO and Chief Analyst of Basex Inc., as well as a key contributer to Roundel and the BMWCCA. His full analysis of the future BMW strategy can be found here: Shifting Gears: BMW to Cut Production and Raise Prices
We have seen this coming for sometime due to the down turn of the US economy and the strength of other emerging markets, what will be interesting to see is exactly how much of an increase we are talking and what future models will get scrapped.
The Isetta and Topolino are crucial to BMW and Fiat’s attempts to reduce the overall CO2 emissions of their ranges – but they will also offer buyers 100mpg fuel returns! Reviving a name not seen since the bubble car of the Fifties, the Isetta will take BMW into a new sector of the motoring market.
It will be joined by the Fiat Topolino. Both machines will offer incredible fuel consumption and low emissions, as well as tiny dimensions, and rival the imminent VW up! and Toyota iQ.
Business conditions for the automobile industry deteriorated sharply again in the second quarter due to further ongoing steep rises in oil and raw material prices, the weakness of the US dollar, the impact of the international financial crisis and a weaker US economy. As a result, the price level of pre-owned cars in the USA - and hence the level of revenues that can be generated on vehicles returned at the end of leases - remained under further pressure. This situation has made it necessary for the BMW Group to increase its risk provision.
BMW NA Press Release: The BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported July sales of 28,977 vehicles, an increase of 2.2 percent over the 28,364 vehicles sold in July 2007. The BMW Group also reported its year-to-date sales volume of 186,890 vehicles, down 3.0 percent compared to 192,702 vehicles in the same period of 2007.
Sales of BMW brand vehicles dropped slightly by 1.6 percent to 23,914 compared to 24,295 units in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date BMW brand sales are down 8 percent to 155,427 vehicles, compared to 168,874 vehicles sold in first seven months of 2007.
Behold, the first reader review on BimmerFile. We’d like to make this an ongoing feature so if you’d like to share your take on your new or old bimmer, let us know via the contact form.
This particular review was sent in by Greg Kaufman, long-time MotoringFile and BimmerFile reader.
It’s been almost an exact month since I took delivery of my 2008 BMW 135i on May 31, 2008. As a MINI Cooper S owner for just shy of four years – I traded in my MCS for the 1-Series – I have been thinking a lot about the differences and the best way to explain my thoughts. I also took delivery of my car in a somewhat unique fashion – definitely unique for me. I took delivery and then immediately drove North for about 40 some odd miles to an Auto Cross event, my first time doing an AutoX by the way – talk about really getting to know you’re car on the first day!
One of our loyal readers Mike Hopp has graciously offered us up photos and a trip report from his recently completed European Delivery.
Poor Mike is probably agonizing over leaving his beautiful car in Europe and having to wait the 4-8 weeks to get it back! We can sympathize with him and after all his 135i being delivered via Munich is a prize many enthusiasts long for! Congrats Mike on a great car and trip!
If you, our readers, would like to contribute in a similar fashion (or anything BMW) we would be more than happy to feature it. Just shoot us an email (via the contact form) and we will try our best to make it happen in a timely manner.
BMW M GmbH will be introducing some changes for the year 2009. All 2009 ///M cars will feature the new iDrive system. The information and photos are for EU models.
Most notably will be the change of the rear on the ///M3 sedan. There are new lights, a new rear bumper and trunk lid. On the interior there are new vent grills, modification to trim pieces and doors.
It looks like the BMW 650i will receive a more aggressive Sport Package (at least in the EU) similar to what is currently done with the 550i. This secondary refresh improves some of the controversial styling of the original look of the car and will be available for the coupe and convertible.
First, I would like to apologize for the lack of posts over the past few days, lots has been going on behind the scenes here at BimmerFile!
Next up are some real spy shots from Jeff Budzinski’s Flickr account. These shots he took show a variety of BMW models being tested in the heat of California. These may in fact be ///M versions of the X5 or X6 though we would hope them be performance versions (as BMW has given us in the past) with the ‘S’ adder to the badge.
The shots of the unwrapped X5 is our first glimpse of the bumper that will be on the higher performance performance models, we expect a similar look from the X6 once that loses the wire mesh.
The 1-series in this set is what is really interesting to us. Our insiders reported to us about a month ago that BMW was testing something new in the 1. Other clues we were given at the time were that the mule had a single blacked out tailpipe (like the 135i but only 1), different wheels and a kit similar to the current 135 though not identical, at the time we were unable to confirm this information but now that we do see BMW is testing something in the 1 we thought we would spill the beans! The car in this set is sporting EU lights so this is not a US spec car… Could this be the upcoming 4 cylinder turbo?
BimmerFile is dedicated to bringing you the most interesting news, links and reviews related to the BMW brand and it's vehicles.
We believe in the old school BMW ownership experience. We believe in garage nights with a six pack and some friends. We believe in 2002s, in E30 M3s and E34 540s with the 6 speed. We believe in progress in both design and engineering but we haven't lost sight of what made the brand and its products great all those years ago. And yes, we believe in the manual transmission.
We long for the days of the wave and for the days of roll-up windows. Yet we love the gadgets on the inside and the xenons on the outside.
In short, we can't get enough of BMWs. This is BimmerFile.
Sections: E81/82/E87 1 Series, EfficientDynamics, Spy photos Aug 5th, 2008 19 Comments 
