Every time we see Pininfarina make the news with a new concept it’s developing, we can’t help but get excited about what the Italian coachbuilder has in store for us.
Well, it looks like Pininfarina is preparing something; a concept, it appears, that will make its debut at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este later this month.
The concept, which has been dubbed as the one-off Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupe, was designed and collaborated with BMW and comes as a notable successor to the BMW Z4 Zagato Coupe that BMW and Zagato also introduced at last year’s event.
Not much is known about the model except that it’s going to be a huge luxury sedan in more ways than one. Aesthetically, it will be feature a long wheelbase, a stretched bonnet, short overhangs and a set-back greenhouse with a smoothly sloping roofline. Thinking about these descriptions it’s easy to be reminded of the German automaker’s 8 Series line.
Actually, the connection to those 8ers from past decades doesn’t just end with its looks. The Gran Lusso Coupe is also reported to carry a monster V-12 engine that will be based on the 6.0-liter turbocharged engine that produces an output of 535 horsepower.
That’s as much as we can tell you because that’s the limited information BMW and Pininfarina have released. In the meantime, click past the jump to revisit the car the former brought to the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este last year: the Z4 Zagato Coupe
It looks like BMW is having all the fun in the world smashing the strangest world records out there. Back in February, a BMW M5 with Johan Schwartz behind the wheel entered the Guinness World Record Book for the longest drift: 76.8 km (47.71 miles). Now, Schwartz managed to smash his own record while driving the same unmodified M5.
This time the record was established at BMW Performance Center near Greenville, South Carolina on Saturday, May 11, 2013. This time, he did a total of 322.5 laps around a circumference of 841 foot circle, providing a total distance traveled of 51.278 miles.
This event is just the first of many during a week of events leading up to the BMW Charity Pro-Am. To date, a total of $20,000 has been raised with benefits going to more than 150 charities.
Those attending the world record were invited to enjoy drives in new BMW vehicles, including the M6 Coupe or received a "hot lap" ride from one the BMW Performance Center Instructors.
Click past the jump to read more about the BMW M5.
The BMW M5 was first introduced at the Amsterdam Motor Show in 1984, so if you do a little math you’ll find that in 2014 the model will celebrate its 30th anniversary. To mark the event, BMW is unveiling a special-edition M5. Or at least this is what a strange M5 prototype caught testing near the M factory in Garching suggests, as it was wearing a “30 Year Limited Edition” badge on its dashboard.
From the same plaque, it appears that the special edition will be limited to only 300 units. Everything else seems to be identical to the standard M5, except some dark chrome gills added to the exterior. Also, the prototype seems to be an American version, judging by the U.S.-only manual option and the orange markers on the front fenders.
Before this special edition gets the opportunity to hit the market, the M5 will receive a revision and the addition of a new Competition Package.
Click past the jump to read more about the standard BMW M5.
BMW’s decision to offer a revision for the M5 is a little bit surprising for us, considering the new generation was just unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. Still, it looks like the company wants to keep the M5 as fresh as all the other models in the 5 Series lineup, as it looks like revised version is just around the corner.
At least this is what the latest spy shots reveal. Our spy photographers caught this revised M5 parked at the Nürburgring while the test drivers watched tourists driving on the famed raceway. The presence of the mighty M5 at the `Ring likely means we’ll see it on the track for some extreme testing as early as tomorrow.
Just like in the standard version, the M5 is going to receive only minor revisions on the front and rear. BMW will add in updated headlights and a new kidney grille, a new rear bumper and new graphics for the taillights.
We expect the M5 to retain the 4.4-liter V-8 that is under the 20013 model’s hood. This means the revised sports sedan will carry with it 560 horsepower and 501 pound-feet of twist. This will launch the sedan to 60 mph in as little as 4.3 seconds. However, don’t be too shocked to see some mild tweaks to the powertrain, just to keep things fresh.
Expect the revised BMW M5 to arrive sometime in the fall of 2013.
Updated 05/13/2013: BMW.de "accidentally" placed a configurator for the revised version of the M5. It has been taken off, of course, but a vigilant person over at bimmertoday.de managed to take some shots of the revised M5 along with some more details on the sports sedan. As expected, changes include a redesigned kidney grille to go along with new headlights and taillights. The interior will get a new M Sport Steering Wheel and the new iDrive Touch. You can see the images in the Gallery.
Click past the jump to read more about the revised M5
BMW’s involvement in MotoGP is well-chronicled, having been bestowed the title of "Official Car of MotoGP" for the past 15 years.
Seeing an opportunity to commemorate the occasion, BMW and MotoGP have partnered up yet again to present a special one-off BMW M6 to the best MotoGP qualifier at the end of the season. This particular collaboration has actually been going on since 2003, but this year, they’re upping the ante with a pretty incredible prize.
The special-edition M6, which was recently unveiled at the Spanish Grand Prix, is dressed in a fancy Frozen Black Metallic exterior to go with an equally fancy set of 20-inch matte-black, light-alloy wheels. Meanwhile, the interior of the M6 Frozen Black carries a unique combination of carbon fiber trim with leather upholstery in Merino and Sakhir Orange. Oh, and don’t forget the M multi-function seats, the heads-up display and the GPS navigation capabilities.
No performance mods were given to this unique M6, so you can expect it to be powered by a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 engine that produces 560 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque. With those numbers, the M6 is capable of hitting 0-60 mph in just 4.2 seconds with a top speed of 155 mph.
Click past the jump to check out the safety cars that have participated in MotoGP over the years.
Everyone expects that once the new BMW 2 Series hits the market, a more powerful M version will be in tow. Our spy photographers have already caught some prototypes testing at Nürburgring and BMW previewed the model with the 1M Coupe and the M135i.
Unfortunately, the M135i never made it to the U.S. and the 1M Coupe was an extremely limited model whose order books closed nearly as quickly as they opened.
The M1 Coupe was a mighty micro-Bimmer, with its twin-boosted 3.0-liter straight-six engine that tortured the concrete with 335 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. We anticipate that the M235i will use the same powertrain. In fact, with the revisions that BMW is currently undergoing, we may even see a few more horsepower from the six-pot. .
UPDATE 05/07/2013: We have created a rendering of the new M235i coupe to help you get an idea of what to expect.
Click past the jump to read more about the BMW M235i Coupe.
Back in 1989, Roberto Ravaglia became the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) champion while driving a BMW M3. In 2012, Bruno Spengler became the champion of the same series, while also driving a BMW M3 - a different generation, of course.
We are pretty sure that both of them knew their cars very well in order to achieve these great results, but what if they change places?
The two champions met up at Hockenheim for a special outing at this legendary venue with Ravaglia taking to the track at the wheel of Spengler’s current BMW M3 DTM car, sporting the classic 1989 livery. Meanwhile, Spengler got a taste of the first-generation BMW M3 with the unique BMW Bank design.
How well do you think they handled the two cars? Regardless of the growing pains as each one gets the feel for the new car, it still looks like a lot of fun.
We obviously care a great deal about our cars and the way they look. Some of us, though, opt for something a little more along the lines of eye-catching, so steps are taken to further improve the car’s aesthetics relative to its stock features.
R1 Motorsport believes in the same thing. Why settle for a standard BMW M6 when you can turn into one of the meanest cars on the block? To its credit, R1 Motorsport answered that question in resounding fashion, dressing up the German sports car in a satin black finish that’s about as menacing as it gets this side of matte black.
You can’t deny that the M6 looks a lot nastier than what it did in standard guise. Add that to the M6’s 4.4-liter V-8 engine that produces 560 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque with a 0-to-60 mph time of 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph, and you have a true sports coupe - a big and mean one - that can make other sports cars in its path squirm with fear.
Click past the jump to see more of R1 Motorsport’s program for the BMW M6
In conjunction with the next-generation X5, BMW is also working on the M version of the SUV. The model has been caught testing for the first time doing some quick and loud laps around the Nürburgring race track.
Although the SUV is still fully camouflaged, there are some distinctive M elements that confirm this is the future X5 M. These special elements include the quad M exhausts, the active differential, and blue brake calipers, which have become the signature color for M model brakes. Behind the M brakes, there are drilled rotors which are being used for the first on any X5 model.
At the front of the car, there are huge air intakes and a path that connects the headlights to the kidney grilles, a feature found on the F30 3 Series.
Under the hood, there will be the same engine that can also be found in the M5: a twin-turbo V-8 delivering some 560 horsepower.
Expect to see the new BMW X5 M sometime in 2014.
UPDATE 5/3/2013: The folks over at Bimmerfest have managed to dig up a pair of images of what is obviously the upcoming X5 M testing with a little less camo than we have seen in other spy shots. In these images, we can make out the middle of the door panels, the bottom of the revised rear liftgate, more taillight detail and part of the rear quarter-panel window. The biggest details we can make out are the revised taillights that look more stylish than last year’s model and the roofline looks a little sleeker.
Early last year it was rumored that BMW could offer an M version for its i8 hybrid supercar. It was supposed to drop the hybrid powertrain in favor of a conventional V-8 powerplant with an output of about 600 horsepower. Sounded pretty great, right?
Now - one year later - it appears that BMW has dropped the idea of developing such a model. While no other explanation has been offered, it looks like the M8 is "no longer part of the program." We do not understand why this decision was made, considering the i8 platform can easily accept front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive alternatives.
So, while we are hoping that the company will change its mind in the future, we’ll just have to wait for the i8. It will arrive sometime later this year and comes with a driving range of about 20 miles in near-silent, zero-emission mode. This figure, combined with a 0 to 60 mph sprint time of 4.9 seconds, and the top speed of 156 mph makes it the ideal car for both city and track.
Click past the jump to read more about the rumored BMW M8 supercar.
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