Turbo Zone

New app compatibility will soon allow BMW and MINI drivers share their location with contacts and on social networks BMW and MINI will soon be compatible with location-sharing technology that wil…l let drivers warn friends and acquaintances if they are running late.

It’s thanks to a tie-up with the makers of the Glympse smartphone app, which offers a simple way of letting people know where you are, where you’re heading and what time you expect to get there. The free app allows you to send your location, destination and/or an estimated time of arrival to one of the list of contacts on your phone, or broadcast it via your Facebook or Twitter account, without needing to type out a text message or make a phone call.

Or, if you were running late for a meeting logged in your phone’s calendar, you could send out a message to everybody on the attendee list letting them know what time you’ll arrive. The app will be fully integrated with models equipped with BMW Apps and MINI Connected Drivers later this spring, meaning once owners plug their phone in to their car, they will be able use all of the app’s functions through the car’s dashboard controls. “With this partnership, we are excited to expand our roster of apps within the BMW Group Application Integration Program. Our drivers will be able to share where they are on the road safely, simply and with a touch of a button,” said Phil Johnston, Product Manager for the BMW Group Apps Platform.

*Story and photo from autoexpress.co.uk*

We already know BMW is planning to plug the gaps in its standard line-up with the 2 Series and 4 Series. Now it’s turning its attention to i…ts X models as it introduces the Concept X4 at the Shanghai Motor Show later this month. This previews a production car set to be unveiled early next year – just as BMW introduced the 4 Series Coupe Concept at the start of this year, with the production model set for release at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Tone down the lights, wheels and bumpers, and the idea is you’re looking at a showroom-ready car. There’s a clear design link between the 4 Series Coupe Concept and the X3, with both featuring a fresh LED headlamp pattern that flows straight into the grille. The shape of the lights is a little more angular than the curvy units fitted to the 4 Series. In profile, the X4 has the same low-slung, high-riding silhouette as the X6. There’s a rising feature line running back from the front wing, joined by another which curves up around the rear wheelarches. The chunky wheelarches are almost squared off – a trick Jeep uses to make its cars look more muscular.

As with other BMW X models, matt black plastic cladding surrounds the wheelarches and runs along the side skirts. From head-on, BMW has marked out the X4 as one of its coupés by making the outer air intakes a lot more pronounced than the central intake. Move to the rear, and the car looks a bit like the new 3 Series GT. The bumper is a lot deeper, though, and features some rugged underbody protection and two large exhaust pipes. BMW has altered the dimensions of the X3 to help create a more dynamic look for the X4. It’s exactly the same length, at 4,648mm, and has the same 2,810mm wheelbase, but it’s 53mm lower and 34mm wider. This gives a similarly planted look to the X6. That extra width could be added to the track of the X4 – as it is in the X6 – which could help make it feel a little more stable through corners. Add the lower roofline and lower centre of gravity, and the X4 looks set to be one of the best-handling SUVs in the BMW line-up. No pictures of the interior have been released yet, but BMW will probably keep the layout near-identical to the X3’s, as it has done with the X6, in an effort to minimise development costs. Due to the sloping roofline, there’ll be a little less headroom and a smaller boot – so while the X3 has a 550-litre load area, the X4 will probably have around 500 litres of space. BMW hasn’t provided any details about engines or transmissions – only that the X4 will come with the xDrive four-wheel-drive system.

The car will probably share engines with the X3, as the X6 shares X5 engines. That means a 181bhp 2.0-litre diesel in the X4 20d, a 254bhp 3.0-litre straight-six in the X4 30d and a flagship using the same engine but producing 309bhp. BMW does offer a rear-wheel-drive version of the X3, but hasn’t confirmed whether a 2WD X4 will be available. The company will be hoping to continue the success story started by the X6, which has consistently sold well since it was introduced in 2008. For every two-and-a-half X5s that found homes globally last year, BMW sold one X6. Similar sales figures for the X4 are likely. The car will be built alongside the X3, X5 and X6 at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, US. Prices are expected to start at around £30,000 when order books for the X4 open early next year. Read more: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/bmw/x4/63405/bmw-x4-concept-leaks#ixzz2PoaKjeEm We already know BMW is planning to plug the gaps in its standard line-up with the 2 Series and 4 Series. Now it’s turning its attention to its X models as it introduces the Concept X4 at the Shanghai Motor Show later this month. This previews a production car set to be unveiled early next year – just as BMW introduced the 4 Series Coupe Concept at the start of this year, with the production model set for release at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show. Tone down the lights, wheels and bumpers, and the idea is you’re looking at a showroom-ready car.

There’s a clear design link between the 4 Series Coupe Concept and the X3, with both featuring a fresh LED headlamp pattern that flows straight into the grille. The shape of the lights is a little more angular than the curvy units fitted to the 4 Series. In profile, the X4 has the same low-slung, high-riding silhouette as the X6. There’s a rising feature line running back from the front wing, joined by another which curves up around the rear wheelarches. The chunky wheelarches are almost squared off – a trick Jeep uses to make its cars look more muscular. As with other BMW X models, matt black plastic cladding surrounds the wheelarches and runs along the side skirts. From head-on, BMW has marked out the X4 as one of its coupés by making the outer air intakes a lot more pronounced than the central intake. Move to the rear, and the car looks a bit like the new 3 Series GT. The bumper is a lot deeper, though, and features some rugged underbody protection and two large exhaust pipes. BMW has altered the dimensions of the X3 to help create a more dynamic look for the X4. It’s exactly the same length, at 4,648mm, and has the same 2,810mm wheelbase, but it’s 53mm lower and 34mm wider. This gives a similarly planted look to the X6. That extra width could be added to the track of the X4 – as it is in the X6 – which could help make it feel a little more stable through corners. Add the lower roofline and lower centre of gravity, and the X4 looks set to be one of the best-handling SUVs in the BMW line-up. No pictures of the interior have been released yet, but BMW will probably keep the layout near-identical to the X3’s, as it has done with the X6, in an effort to minimise development costs. Due to the sloping roofline, there’ll be a little less headroom and a smaller boot – so while the X3 has a 550-litre load area, the X4 will probably have around 500 litres of space. BMW hasn’t provided any details about engines or transmissions – only that the X4 will come with the xDrive four-wheel-drive system. The car will probably share engines with the X3, as the X6 shares X5 engines. That means a 181bhp 2.0-litre diesel in the X4 20d, a 254bhp 3.0-litre straight-six in the X4 30d and a flagship using the same engine but producing 309bhp. BMW does offer a rear-wheel-drive version of the X3, but hasn’t confirmed whether a 2WD X4 will be available. The company will be hoping to continue the success story started by the X6, which has consistently sold well since it was introduced in 2008. For every two-and-a-half X5s that found homes globally last year, BMW sold one X6. Similar sales figures for the X4 are likely. The car will be built alongside the X3, X5 and X6 at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, US. Prices are expected to start at around £30,000 when order books for the X4 open early next year.

*Story and photo from autoexpress.co.uk

Meet the new Detroit Electric SP:01 It’s a Lotus Elise, but not as you know it: 201bhp pure electric roadster breaks cover… Look up: that blue thing in the picture above is Detroit Electric’s new SP:01 sportscar. It’s electric. And it look…s a little…familiar, doesn’t it? That’s because it’s based on the rolling chassis of a Lotus Elise; a “well-proven” underpinning that the Detroit-based carmaker is utilising to produce a very fast, very agile and very light pure electric roadster. Hmm… a Elise-based all-electric sports car? The recipe might be derivative, but Detroit Electric has a history all of its own.

The company began making electric cars at the turn of the 20th century, from 1907 right up until 1939 (ahem), using lead acid batteries for early electric carriages. And Detroit Electric had some interesting clients too: the wife of former President Eisenhower used to own one, as did Thomas Edison and even John Rockefeller. Oh, and Henry Ford – who we think knew a bit about cars – bought his wife Clara a Detroit Electric automobile too. Fast forward to 2008, and the revival of the brand by former Lotus CEO Albert Lam.

He says it took DE five years of research and development to create the SP:01, which will be the first DE product built since ’39. So the essentials: it’s a rear-wheel-drive, two-seater drop-top with a mid-mounted battery pack. Weight sits nice and low at a respectable 1,090kg, and underneath sits a bonded aluminium Elise chassis. The wheelbase is identical to the stock Elise, as is the SP:01’s front and rear suspension setup, though the Bilstein dampers and Eibach coil springs have been retuned. There’s also no power steering, either. Bench-pressers rejoice! The bodywork is bespoke, fabricated in carbon fibre by motorsport engineers URT. Sitting where the standard Elise’s petrol engine would be is an air-cooled, asynchronous AC electric motor, made in the USA and powered by two lithium polymer batteries, all sent to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission.

We’re told 1st is ‘good’ for up to 30mph, 2nd for 60mph, and 3rd/4th for upwards. Power sits at 201bhp, it’ll go from 0-62mph in a claimed 3.7 seconds, and it will top out at 155mph. Torque sits at 166lb ft, and is available from zero rpm. There are vented 282mm discs all round with regenerative braking, hiding behind 16-inch front and 17-inch rear alloy wheels. Inside, there’s leather and carbon fibre, along with full smartphone integration, including the ability to adjust the climate control remotely, too. All this comes at a price, mind. A mighty big one. It’ll go on sale in America for $135,000 – which when converted to UK money with VAT equals around £105,000. Ouchy. Just 999 will be built – in Detroit – and will go on sale in August this year.

*Story from topgear.com