BMW CCA - BMW News http://bmwcca.org/forum All news BMW en Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:29:14 GMT vBulletin 60 http://bmwcca.org/forum/images/cca/misc/rss.jpg BMW CCA - BMW News http://bmwcca.org/forum BMW starts building new X3 in South Carolina http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8061&goto=newpost Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:22:12 GMT X3 joins X5, X6 vehicles at Spartanburg plant

Production of the new BMW X3 Sports Activity Vehicle got underway September 1 at BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina, plant. In early 2008, BMW began investing $750,000,000 in South Carolina, its largest investment there to date. The company built a new assembly hall exclusively for the BMW X3, along with an expansion to the existing paint shop. This 1,500,000-square-foot addition increases the plant's total footprint to over 4,000,000 square feet.[FLOATRIGHT]Attachment 2863BMW's new X3 is being built in South Carolina.[/FLOATRIGHT]

“The launch of the new X3 will mark a historic moment for this plant. I am confident that the BMW X3 is once again going to make our plant a leader in the Sports Activity segment,” said Josef Kerscher, president of BMW Manufacturing Company in Spartanburg.

In the last seven years, more than 600,000 of the first-generation BMW X3 were built in Austria. The last vehicle of the first generation, a Vermilion Red Metallic BMW X335d, came off the line in August.

With the model change, production of the X3 was relocated to the South Carolina plant, which builds the BMW X5 and X6 models. The U.S. plant has become the expertise center for the BMW X models; the addition of the third model to the plant's vehicle mix has created several hundred new jobs and increased BMW's total investment in South Carolina to $4,600,000,000 since 1992.—Paul Duchene
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]]> BMW News Roundel http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8061 Mini Countryman ad campaign begins http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8060&goto=newpost Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:13:54 GMT Creative video graphics mark new media push

[FLOATRIGHT]Attachment 2860The Mini Countryman "Getaway" commercial features melding Minis—but they're red.[/FLOATRIGHT]
The Mini Countryman advertising campaign has been launched, with an eye-popping commercial set in Northern Italy around Lake Como. Based loosely—very loosely!—one the getaway sequences of The Italian Job (either version, actually), the commercial features a Mini Countryman dividing in a mad mitosis.

Check it out on YouTube here; see if you can count how many Minis are multiplied into the escape caper.—Paul Duchene
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]]> BMW News Roundel http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8060 <![CDATA[BMW's Jack Pitney dies in accident]]> http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7976&goto=newpost Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:19:21 GMT Popular, affable "car guy" helped bring Mini to America

BMW of North America has announced that Jack Pitney, vice-president of marketing, was killed early on Thursday, August 26, in a tragic accident while on vacation at his farm. Pitney, 47, lived in Ridgewood with his wife, Quincy, and their five children, according to Tom Kowaleski, vice-president of corporate communications for BMW NA.[FLOATRIGHT]Attachment 2784Jack Pitney[/FLOATRIGHT]

"He was working on his tractor on his farm in Dutchess County [New York]," Kowaleski said. He had no further information.

Pitney was a well-known and much-liked figure in the auto industry. A former manager of public relations for Mazda, Pitney moved from head of BMW public relations to launch the company's successful Mini lineup of British-made small cars. As vice president of marketing at BMW, he launched new vehicles such as the small 1 Series and X3 sport activity vehicle.

In the early days of the new millennium, Pitney and a small team of BMW managers had convinced their superiors that the Mini could be sold for a profit in the difficult U.S. market. The move was a gamble for BMW, as it revived the Mini name as a fun British car that was popular in the 1960s. BMW put the Mini Cooper in a premium price class for such a small vehicle, but allowed young buyers to accessorize it with various options. It became wildly popular—and convinced other auto makers that they could sell small cars if they were fun to drive and had the features of larger cars.

Pitney was named general manager of the Mini brand in 2001 at the age of 38. He served as vice president and general manager of MINI from 2001 to 2005 as he launched the brand's reintroduction in this country. A popular film, The Italian Job, featured Minis as getaway cars during a heist.

Pitney joined BMW in 1995 as head of corporate communications; he had been a vice president at Hill and Knowlton in Los Angeles, heading the Mazda account. He also worked as vice president at GCI Group/Los Angeles, overseeing the launch of Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury car division. At BMW, he was supposed to assume the position of vice president for the Eastern Region on September 1, and be responsible for sales, marketing and dealer activities in the crucial New York metropolitan area.

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, he earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Occidental College.—Paul Duchene
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]]> BMW News paul duchene http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7976 BMW offers free safety systems http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7972&goto=newpost Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:47:19 GMT S1000 RR superbike gets traction control and ABS BMW Motorrad USA has launched a promotion to help America’s servicemen and women ride more safely.... S1000 RR superbike gets traction control and ABS

BMW Motorrad USA has launched a promotion to help America’s servicemen and women ride more safely. Why? Because the number of accidents, injuries, and deaths among off-duty US military personnel has been an issue of great concern.

BMW Motorrad USA's performance riding training partner, the California Superbike School (CSS), provides training to the U.S. Air Force, Army and Marine Corps to help reduce the number of motorcycle accidents. And now, active-duty military personnel who buy a new BMW S1000 RR before December 31, 2010, will receive a free safety package, including Race ABS & Dynamic Traction Control worth $1,480.

The new BMW S1000 RR is not only the most powerful production bike on the market, it's also the safest, thanks to electronic rider aids Race ABS and Dynamic Traction Control. No other motorcycle offers this combination of safety features.[FLOATRIGHT]Attachment 2778[/FLOATRIGHT]

At the California Superbike School, Keith Code has taught 100,000 street riders and 15 U.S. Superbike Champions since CSS's inception in 1980. Today, CSS is found on four continents. This year, CSS switched from 600 Supersport motorcycles to the BMW S1000 RR. Despite having 80 more horsepower, the number of student crashes on the track has declined by 60% thanks to the safety features of the BMW S1000 RR.

According to Code, so far this year, over 900 CSS students have ridden more than 100,000 track miles at eight tracks, in all types of weather conditions, on BMW S1000 RRs fitted with Dynamic Traction Control and Race ABS systems. “Compared to the 600s we’ve used for the past 30 years, amounting to twelve million miles of track training with over 125,000 students at 106 tracks around the world, our crash ratio has reduced by 60%,” observed Code. “Last year, we had an average of 1.2 crashes per school day. This year, so far, crashes are down to 0.3 per day.”

The S1000 RR, weighing only 404 lbs and delivering a massive 193 hp, is one of the most potent, sophisticated and lightest sport bikes ever produced. It's the most powerful production 1,000-cc sport bike in the world and has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of only $13,800.—Paul Duchene
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]]> BMW News paul duchene http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7972 <![CDATA[Teens benefit from "hands-on" training]]> http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7921&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:53:26 GMT Consumer Reports sees value in Street Survival schools Teenagers are four times as likely to crash than older drivers; each day, about nine... Consumer Reports sees value in Street Survival schools

Teenagers are four times as likely to crash than older drivers; each day, about nine teenagers between sixteen and nineteen years old die from motor-vehicle injuries. Those statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be enough for you to send your teens to school to learn to be better drivers.

But “drivers' ed” usually refers to a program that teaches young drivers the rules of the road and how to operate a car. That’s just the start or real skill-building, however. Teens need to be aware of other drivers, and learn how to avoid accidents.

To evaluate the value of practical instruction, Consumer Reports sent four teenagers through a school and evaluated their driving skills before and after the instruction. The course selected was the nationally available Street Survival course, a joint venture of the Tire Rack, the BMW Car Club of America Foundation, and SCCA. The program costs $75 for a full day of instruction.[FLOATRIGHT]Attachment 2709Teaching teens some real driving skills is best done before they establish too many bad habits.[/FLOATRIGHT]

There are other courses across the country that offer similar training, such as the Driver’s Edge and the New Driver Car Control Clinic. Costs range from free to about $400. Most include instruction in a classroom, and driving exercises using the teenager’s own vehicle.

The four students had from six months to three years of driving experience, and three had attended private driving schools but had no experience with car-control training. Initial evaluation of their skills took place at Consumer Reports’ test track. Each student drove around a dry skid pad and through an autocross. The result: Two female students drove around the skid pad well below their cars’ limits, and appeared a bit frightened, while the two male students were both able to squeal the tires. On the autocross, all drivers drove rather slowly, and only one kept both hands on the wheel. Still, some got into heavy understeer by misjudging corners.

Then, during a full day of instruction, the teens drove in their own cars with trained instructors riding with them. The students practiced several dynamic maneuvers, including braking around a corner, lane changes, wet and dry figure eights, and a skidpad session where the instructor would provoke oversteer by pulling the parking brake.

The teens said that learning to cure oversteer was the most useful—and the most challenging—skill. On the other hand, threshold braking was not nearly as useful, since all cars had anti-lock brakes; for cars equipped with ABS, your best bet is to slam the brakes hard for the shortest stop.

The students also received classroom instruction that ranged from lessons on defensive-driving techniques to demonstrations of how to set the best driving position. Each student received a handbook for both them and their parents.

In a rerun at the track after the course, all four students were able to get their tires to squeal. On the autocross course, they were more confident, and all but one used both hands at all times. Each teen appeared more confident, and all agreed that the course would be best suited to drivers as young as possible—before they establish bad habits. Some also felt that they were already such seasoned drivers that the course was unnecessary, despite the fact they had improved after the course. All felt more confident in their abilities, and would recommend the course to their friends.

Statistics support the value of such defensive-driving courses. According to a recent study by Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, graduates from a teen defensive-driving school had cumulative crash rates 77% lower than the general fifteen-to-nineteen-year-old population.—Paul Duchene
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]]> BMW News Roundel http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7921 BMW profits jump 700% in second quarter http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7919&goto=newpost Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:34:24 GMT Billions in 2010, up from mere millions in 2009

BMW's second-quarter results have produced a stunning net profit, some seven times stronger than anticipated. If the income and profit numbers were written as strings of zeros, this story would look like computer code.

BMW spokesmen said that net profit climbed to €834,000,000 ($1,100,000,000) from €121,000,000 in the same period a year earlier. Dow Jones analysts had projected a slightly more modest figure of €674,000,000. The fall of the euro has raised the value of dollar-denomination sales.

"The evident market recovery since the beginning of the year continued to gain pace during the second quarter 2010," said BMW, with practically British understatement.

The group delivered 380,412 BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce vehicles in the second quarter, a gain of 12.5%, and posted an 18.3% jump in sales to €15,348,000,000. Operating earnings before interest and tax soared to €1,717,000,000 from just €169,000,000 in an extremely weak second quarter in 2009. For the first six months of 2010, BMW swung from a loss of €31,000,000 in the first half of 2009 to a profit of €1,158,000,000.

Luxury-car makers have seen a complete turnaround this year, with emerging countries like China setting records. Looking ahead to the rest of 2010, BMW anticipates a unit-sales gain of around 10% to more than 1,400,000 vehicles and profit margins on core operations expected to be more than 5% for the automobiles segment. That is expected to climb to 8%-10% by 2012.

BMW motorcycles also did well, despite unfavorable market conditions, with a 21.6% rise in sales to 36,175 units, while the financial services division sold 3% more contracts.—Paul Duchene ]]> BMW News Roundel http://bmwcca.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7919