German Car Zone

this transformation of BMW bothers me
not beacuse there is something wrong with it..
Only beacuse they still call it the ultimate driving machine.. ( wich it never has been imo a damn good driving machine..but utimate? eehh no)
And the worst thing is that BMw and its fans despite ditching CSL and other great things wont stop calling it the Ultimate driving machine..
Thats what bothers me
Other than that.. great inviromental initiative..haha

I think this is very good news, not only for the environment, but it also means cheaper driving and lower taxes for those who onwn BMWs. Sad it may be, but nowadays when I'm looking at car facts and figures, one of the first things I look at now is CO2 emissions and MPG alongside the usual bhp, torque etc. Its important nowadays.

Eh? Bluetec will be launched this year. The newer diesels later. Then there are the hybrids next year. Diesotto and Mercedes first batch of fuel cell vehicles should be launched in 2010. So lets not jump the gun and say Mercedes has done nothing. Their future of fuel efficient / zero emmissions cars is looking far brighter.

Congrats to BMW however. It looks like efficient dynamics is really paying off.

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Eh? Bluetec will be launched this year. The newer diesels later. Then there are the hybrids next year. Diesotto and Mercedes first batch of fuel cell vehicles should be launched in 2010. So lets not jump the gun and say Mercedes has done nothing. Their future of fuel efficient / zero emmissions cars is looking far brighter.

Yes but what have they done today apart from a disco express remix nonone asked for , Interesting enough I remember at the IAA in 1991 Mercedes-Benz had just unveiled a Concept Car it began with a C? C111 or something and they said it was going into ltd production , then the Recession happened and Mercedes killed it to work on the A-Klasse. Will history repeat itself? Possibly not but I thought I would remind you of some history.


If all honesty I really have become tired of that term , The only country that uses that is the USA , Whilst it worked well years ago ,today it sounds pretentious , but apparently the USA connects to that term but they have there own marketing agencies to develop such ideas
Sheer driving Pleasure is more situated to our current strategy because it sounds less pretentious and less arrogant.

As long as it is not changed into "Sheer riding pleasure" or even more importantly... that the notion aimed at by the slogan is still the drivers undiluted experience of driving the car just for fun and not his or her environmental conscience.

Soon Porsche will top the list. The 997 MkII is a very green car.

What does any of that have to do with their green plans or technology? A supercar is an entirely different thing from going green. Green isn't going to be frowned upon like a supercar would have been back then.




Its all marketing junk/nonsense anyway so really what is the difference? You make BMW sound like Toyota more and more everyday.



M

The proposed EU exhaust-gas regulation is very strict. And the companies which most eagerly fight against that proposal are Porsche & Daimler. Since they either have improper product portfolio (Porsche), or not deep enough into reducing gas-emissions (Daimler - which rather wastes R&D money for eg. BlackSeries models).

Porsche are looking into best solution how to formally incorporate orsche models into VAG model line ... so they can meet proposed fleet average of eg C02 emissions. But also VAG has some issues since Bugatti, Bentley & Lamborghini are not quite clean & efficient. But they are close to the final solution.

The Daimler ... ouch! Super-efficent smart is not enough. Nor are some sporadic Hybrid models. Some more broad solution accross the line is needed - like ED by BMW.

BMW took the EU law proposals very seriously - and the discussions about those laws is years old. While Daimler was busy with Chrysler, and additionally also covering the eyes, convincing themselves they have enough time, and the legislation won't pass.

So ... The companies not ready by 2012 will eitther have to pay enormous fees, or even be prohibited to sale "dirty" cars. And MB is not taking that very seriously.

In the end they may be hurt badly. And in the last minute they will be forced to buy some solution from other car maker (eg. Renault, Fiat etc). Imagine that: MB featuring Fiat tech. Ouch!


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The BMW "transformation" is very wise move ... and will definitely pay off on the near future. KERS, turbo-electric hybrid, lightweight, ED+, solar panels, heat-regeneration-system, etc ... all that will be - at a proper time - incorporated in a super-green supercar.

And that will put BMW on a "Ultimate Driving Machine" throne again.

They are sacrifying some image & short-time opportunities for a long-time gain in the near future.


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And BMW will prove clean-green cars can also be fun to drive, and look good ... not as dorky as Prius, or quasi-green Lexus hybrids.

But we have to congratulate Toyota on excellent marketing trick ... the hybrids. But being a pioner usualy brings you some fine gains.

Personnaly i don't have any problem with that, what bothers me is that they are calling for more clean cars and at the same time developping more & more trucks. It's very understandable from an economical point of view but image wise, it hurts credibility.

Dont underestimate MB thats all i can tell you..
IN ANY FIELD..

And okay say that your green bmw talk is right..
but who cares.. until they can come with a green alternative to the CSL they should just keep on making them..
And when they do.. well voila a new kind of CSL..
Why ditch something wich you do not have a replacement for in the near future..