For a while, it seemed as if the future of owning an automobile would be a subscription where you paid an ongoing monthly fee and had access to multiple car models from a single brand. Subscription programs were available from BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and others for a while. BMW recently announced that it was canceling its subscription service that began in 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Samsung is working with four major automakers to turn its Galaxy S21 smartphones into digital car keys, as the company chases Apple and its already-launched iPhone as Key tech. The Android phone-maker announced the collaborations with Audi, BMW, Ford, and Genesis during its Galaxy Unpacked 2021 event today, where it unveiled three new smartphones.
BMW already allows you to unlock some of its cars with your iPhone, but the automaker is looking ahead to an even more ambitious version with BMW Digital Key Plus. Set to launch on the BMW iX all-electric SUV, the new system will be based in Ultra-Wideband (UWB) rather than just Bluetooth and NFC, to throw positional data into the mix.
Get ready for some more huge dashboard displays, with BMW teasing its upcoming iDrive system at CES 2021 today. Set to be fully unveiled later in the year - and arrive first in the BMW iX all-electric SUV in early 2022 - the new infotainment system won't just see the screens get bigger but, the automaker promises, more flexible and automated too. However, unlike some rivals, BMW isn't turning to the touchscreen for everything.
There's subtle, and then there's 2021 BMW M550i xDrive subtle. Not quite the feistiest of the new 5 Series line-up, the M550i promises nine-tenths of the horsepower of the range-topping M5 but wrapped up in an altogether more surreptitious package. That's bad news for those who love to stand out in their sports sedan, but an appealing prospect for those who prefer to fly under the radar.
Just how badly do you want people to stare at you? It's a question I had ample time to consider, hunkered down in the comfortable leather sports seats of the 2020 BMW M8 Competition and trying not to make eye-contact with fellow motorists, pedestrians, or the cyclist that almost swerved into its Java Green Metallic flanks.
The holidays may be drawing to a close, but BMW's M performance division has one last surprise ahead of the new year: the first details on the 2021 BMW M5 CS. The latest edition of a "Competition Sport" car, as you'd expect the M5 CS takes the standard sports sedan and cranks out more performance for those who really refuse to compromise.
BMW plans to increase its electric vehicle production, boosting the number of EVs it intends to make between 2021 and 2023 in response to what the automaker sees as a greater shift toward electrification. The news comes not long after BMW revealed the BMW iX, a luxury electric SUV that it intends to be its first to launch in the US.
Money can't buy taste but it can buy exclusivity. If you're both wealthy and lucky, then as in the case of the 2020 BMW Alpina B7 those two stars can sometimes combine. The German tuning house may not have the brand recognition of, say, AMG or BMW's own M Sport division, but in the rarity stakes that only makes the new B7 more appealing.
Life at the entry-level can be tough, particularly if you’re a luxury automaker like BMW trying to please both the badge-hungry and the price conscious at the same time. Spare a thought for the 2020 BMW X1 xDrive28i, then, first step into the car company’s crossover line-up, and tasked with balancing a relatively affordable sticker price with the prestige the Bavarians are known for.
BMW is doubling up on its electric models today, not only previewing the new BMW iX all-EV SUV, but a "near-series" electric scooter too. The BMW Motorrad Definition CE 04 is, the automaker's two-wheel branch says, a vision of what it has in mind for electric urban mobility in the not too distant future. It doesn't hurt that it looks like something out of an Akira reboot.
BMW has revealed its first all-electric SUV headed to the US, with the iNEXT concept becoming the new BMW iX. Set to be officially launched in 2021, and then arrive in dealerships in the US the following year, the iX is still a work-in-progress, BMW says, though it already has some numbers to tease us with.