اخبار سيارات BMW لسنه 2009

[اخبار مصر موتورز]

Filed under: Motorsports, BMW, Earnings/Financials

Questionable past acquisitions aside, you don't get to be as large and successful as BMW without having some business acumen. That assumption, however, is being cast into question as reports out of Germany suggest that the Bavarian automaker may have been duped in its sale of the Sauber F1 racing team.



Peter Sauber's eponymous racing team joined the F1 grid in 1993, and raced for a dozen seasons independently before BMW bought the team in 2005. But earlier this year, the German automaker announced it would withdraw from the sport, leaving Sauber to look for a new investor. A mysterious Swiss finance firm called Qadbak Investments stepped up, and the sale was completed. Having missed the deadline to re-commit for 2010, however, Sauber was replaced by newcomer Lotus, but since Toyota vacated its position, Sauber has been waiting on the FIA to give them the go-ahead. And now we're starting to understand the FIA's hesitance.



According to emerging reports, it appears that Qadbak - which also recently acquired the Notts County football team in England and was supposedly backed by a couple of reclusive, wealthy Middle Eastern families - is little more than a string of shell companies for a convicted British fraudster based in Dubai. Apparently Russell King, the fraudster at the end of the Qadbak paper trail, was trying to tap into the shared F1 revenue streams split between the teams in the series. Having finished sixth in the constructors' championship this season, the Sauber team would be entitled to a considerable slice of the pie.



The revelation raises more questions than it answers, but we're expecting the whole picture to come into focus over the coming weeks, so stay tuned.



[Source: SonntagsZeitung via Axis of Oversteer]

REPORT: BMW hoodwinked by fraudster in sale of Sauber F1 team originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

أكثر...

[اخبار مصر موتورز]

Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, BMW

Piece Brosnan with the BMW Z8 in The World is Not Enough

You wouldn't know it if you weren't a serious film buff or marketing exec, but Propaganda GEM is responsible for a big share of the products you see placed in films. The entertainment marketing agency represents such brands as Audi, Lamborghini, Nokia, Panasonic, Bang & Olufsen and Casio, to name just a few. And it has a new client: the BMW Group.



Following such films as I, Robot and Iron Man, Propaganda has helped Audi significantly increase its profile in Hollywood. But the agency will be terminating its 13-year relationship with Audi (and, we'd expect, Lambo along with them) in order to take on BMW (together with Mini, Rolls-Royce and BMW motorcycles), spearheading a new marketing initiative for the Bavarian automaker.



Having temporarily stolen the James Bond spotlight from Aston Martin and Lotus in the mid-Nineties and launched The Hire film short series in 2001, BMW is no stranger to product placement, but the tie-in with Propaganda promises to take things to the next level. Apparently Munich's marketing budget has increased recently, thanks in large part to the termination of the company's Formula One program this year. BMW's sponsorship of the 2012 Olympic Games in London will only be the tip of the proverbial iceberg, as we can expect to see its products and those of its subsidiaries in more movies, television shows, music videos and video games in the near future. Thanks for the tip, Adam!



[Source: Variety]

REPORT: BMW using money saved from F1 pullout for more product placement originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

أكثر...

[اخبار مصر موتورز]

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Podcasts, Etc., Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Infiniti, Lexus, Nissan

Click above for the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes, RSS or listen now!

Episode #154 of the Autoblog Podcast is here for your tryptophan-addled pleasure. Chris, Sam, and Dan kick it, starting with the BMW 5 Series, then move on to such appetite supressants as the Lexus GX, Acura ZDX and its pricing, and Infiniti's re-style of the massive QX56 rig. Before we become an emetic, we move on to the pretty new Infiniti M, the ongoing anticipation for a US-bound Chevrolet Spark, and Hyundai's new 2.4 liter direct-injection 4 cylinder for the next Sonata. We hit some questions, and wrap it up in time for pie.



If you're looking to bulk up on podcast excellence over the Thanksgiving holiday, check out our colleagues at Joystiq and Engadget. Let us know what you think by dropping us an email at Podcast at Autoblog dot com, reviewing the show in iTunes, filling out our survey, or even leaving us a voicemail on our Google Voice line 734-288-8POD (734-288-8763). Thanks for listening, we'll see you next week!

Continue reading Autoblog Podcast #154

Autoblog Podcast #154 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

أكثر...

[اخبار مصر موتورز]

Filed under: Spy Photos, Convertible, BMW, Luxury

It looks like the lakes around Arvidsjaur Sweden have frozen early this year and the engineers from Munich have hit the ice already. The current generation BMW 6 Series has been one of the company's more controversial designs of the past decade, along with the previous-generation 7 Series and Z4. Like most of the rest of the lineup, it will be getting a re-work in the not-too-distant future, and judging from some new photos, it will be following a similar design direction to other recent introductions.

It looks like the bustle back trunk lid (a.k.a. "The Bangle Butt") is being given the heave-ho, although the convertible that was spotted looks like it might be sporting a two-piece rear lid similar to the 5 Series Gran Turismo. It also appears as though there are two cut-lines, the lower one being the one that goes along the side to open for the top to go up and down. The second smaller one higher up might be just for cargo access.

Another element that some will be to see go are the flying buttresses on the top. Thankfully, it appears that BMW has decided to avoid the unnaturally long rear deck that would come with a hard top and retained the fabric variety. At the front, the 6 gets a more vertical grille and headlights that look much like the Z4.

Underhood, the current 4.8-liter V8 will probably be replaced by the newer 4.4-liter twin-turbo and the six-cylinder will probably be the new 300-horsepower single turbo unit just announced for the 5 Series.

[Source: AutoExpress]

Spy Shots: New BMW 6 Series cabrio caught, reveals no more flying buttresses originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

أكثر...

[اخبار مصر موتورز]

Filed under: Motorsports, BMW

BMW 320si WTCC, BMW-Sauber F1.07 and Formula BMW FB02 - Click above for high-res image gallery

What would BMW be without racing? We could be about to find out if recent developments are any indication. The Bavarian automaker competed in F1, the World Touring Car Championship and various sportscar series, while running its own Formula BMW feeder series that has helped breed such talents as Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. The automaker announced its withdrawal from Formula One at the end of this year, and reports now indicate that they'll be severely curtailing their participation in the World Touring Car Championship as well.



BMW mounted a concerted comeback effort in the WTCC this year, only to narrowly lose out again to SEAT. Whether the decision is directly related to the upset or not is unclear, but reports out of Europe say that BMW will be reducing the number of its cars in the championship next year from five to two. That means eliminating the national teams system it had in place, consolidating and putting its WTCC-spec 320si in the hands of Team Schnitzer (the erstwhile BMW Team Germany), which gains triple champion Andy Priaulx from BMW Team UK to partner with multiple race winner Augusto Farfus. Two-time CART champion and double amputee Alex Zanardi, who was racing for BMW Team Italy-Spain, is moving to the Superstars Series. (Touring car fans should also note that SEAT's 2008 champion Yvan Muller is moving to Chevrolet to replace the retiring former F1 driver Nicola Larini.)



What remains to be seen is whether BMW will continue cutting its racing activities in other series as well, or if they'll have cut enough expenditures from their F1 and WTCC programs to let its sportscar programs and Formula BMW survive the cutbacks.

Gallery: BMW 320si WTCC

[Source: OmniAuto.it]

BMW continues curtailing racing programs originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

أكثر...