This video shows Chris Bangle speaking on his love of designing cars, as well as “Bangle-bashing” – the criticism of the design cues that he has inserted into the current generation of BMW cars, the most famous being the Bangle Butt.

According to him, it was necessary for product lines to follow a cycle of a revolutionary generation followed by an evolutionary generation followed by another revolutionary generation and so on. The current way BMWs look started with the E65 BMW 7-Series – that was considered a revolution, and the evolution could start with the upcoming production version of the BMW Concept CS.

He also talks about the 2006 Geneva Motor Show where he was accused of being racist when he used the term “Axis of White Power”, and offers his explanation on the matter: apparently he was actually referring to the cars’ paintjobs.

Both videos are viewable after the jump, the interview and the video where he mentioned the Axis of White Power.

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BMW’s new Director of Design Adrian van Hooydonk (he replaces Chris Bangle who has been promoted to BMW Group’s Chief of Design, responsible for MINI and Rolls Royce) talks about the new BMW X6 at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show.

Watch the video after the jump.

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BMW’s Project Manager Thomas Muderlak talks about the new BMW 1-Series Convertible at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. The 1-Series Convertible is the 4th body type of the new 1-Series, joined by the 5-door, the 3-door, and the coupe.

Watch the video after the jump.

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BMW 1-Series Convertible Official Photos and Details

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BMW exhibited the BMW M3 Convertible at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. Carsten Pries, Head of Product Management, M Automobiles and BMW Individual seemed to dodge around the question by the interviewer on whether the M3 family is now complete, which could indicate something else coming our way.

The M3 family currently consists of the M3 Sedan, the M3 Coupe, and the M3 Convertible, all of which come in either 6-speed manual or 7-speed M DCT dual clutch transmission variants. There could be a station wagon version coming along, since there is an M5 Touring. Anyway, watch the video after the jump.

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BMW’s new EfficientDynamics brand was the most obvious thing they were pushing at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. This is an interview with Jan-Christiaan Koenders, BMW’s Director of Brand Communication about what EfficientDynamics is and why it is important for BMW. The gist of it is that BMW wants to incorporate little features that can save energy in all of its cars rather than just lump everything into one flagship hybrid. This is evident with the inclusion of start-stop and brake energy regeneration features across the product range. Watch the video after the jump.

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The Proton Persona be on sale in Proton UK dealerships from the end of March 2008 onwards, and it will be called the Proton GEN-2 Persona in the UK market. There is only one variant sold there, which comes with front and rear power windows, a MP3/CD integrated head unit with 4 speakers, dual SRS airbags, and antilock brakes.

The 5-speed manual version goes for £10,795, while the 4-speed automatic goes for £11,595. The GEN2 hatchback goes for exactly £200 more expensive for both the manual and auto models. There is currently a promotion offering £1,000 off the list price for the GEN-2 Persona.

The UK-bound Persona is likely to come with the new 1.6 liter Campro IAFM engine which made its Malaysian debut in the mid-line GEN2 facelift. Word is that the Malaysian market Persona is also available with IAFM now, evident from Proton taking up advertising in major newspapers, but the PR department has not released an official announcement yet, so let’s wait for that as it would be better for us to have confirmed details on exact pricing, and availability.

Honda has launched a facelifted 2009 model year Acura RL at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show, and it features a new version J37A 3.7 liter V6. Read more full technical details and view more photos and videos after the jump.

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As expected with all Proton model launches in the past year, graphic artist Theophilus Chin has whipped up a virtually kitted up version of the facelifted 2008 Proton GEN2. This concept art is rather conservative. I think the integrated dual exhaust tailpipes into the rear diffuser is a good look for the car. Two more images after the jump.

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A Consumer Reports study in the US concluded that the best cars in the US are sold by Honda, taking into account reliability, performance, fuel economy, comfort, interior fit and finish, and ergonomics. It is also the only automaker in the rest to earn an overall reliability rating of Excellent.

Honda scored 78 on the test, followed by Toyota with 75 points and Subaru with 72 points. BMW, Mazda, Nissan, and Volkswagen are tied at 71 points, while American automakers like GM and Ford scored some of the lowest scores.

In the individual segment tests, Honda vehicles did not always come up tops, for example the Nissan Altima beat the new Accord (shown above, due on our local shores sometime this year) in the D-segment sedan category, but its vehicles consistently rated at the top of their respective categories. Shockingly, the Toyota Camry scored a below average reliability rating in the Consumer Reports study.

GM’s new models did rather well in their respective categories but its rating was dragged down by its older models. The results also showed that Japanese cars fared better than American cars.

Read the full findings here.

The new Skoda Superb was unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. As far as I know, Skoda hasn’t released a full technical release on the car yet, but there are some preliminary info on its specifications.

The highlight is of course the Twindoor which you can see in the photo above. It combines the rear boot opening of both a sedan and liftback, though I am not sure why anyone would want it – does anyone see disadvantages of a liftback boot design that requires this additional sedan-like opening? The boot holds 565 liters and folding down the rear seats to extend boot space results in 1670 liters.

Initially the Skoda Superb will come with 3 petrol engines and 3 diesel engines. The petrol engines consist of a baseline 122 horsepower 1.4 liter TSI engine, and next up is a 1.8 liter TSI putting out 158 horsepower. The top of the range petrol engine is the 3.6 FSI V6 producing 256 horsepower.

The oil burner options include a 103 horsepower 1.9 liter TDI, a 138 horsepower 2.0 TDI and a 168 horsepower common rail 2.0 TDI (the other two TDI engines use PD, or Pump-Duse injection, which is conventional unit-injection). There is also a special Skoda Superb GreenLine model equipped with the 103 hp 1.9 liter TDI.

Equipment options for the Skoda Superb includes a bi-xenon headlamps with AFS, a touch-screen navigation system, an automated parking system, and up to 9 airbags. The 1.8 TSI, 3.6 FSI V6, and 2.0 commonrail TDI engines also have the option of an all-wheel drive system.

More photos and a video available after the jump.

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