Archive for Automotive Videos

Could BMW’s new sub-brand for its electric cars be called the Isetta? There’s strong indication that it might be, considering that they’ve recently produced a promotional TV commercial that seems to seek to both introduce the old Isetta to the younger generation and to remind oldies of the small little BMW with the door that opened in front. The video’s main purpose is actually to promote the BMW Museum in Munich. Given that the Isetta was the original BMW compact city car, badging its new MegaCity/Project i car with the brand seems quite suitable. Word is that the new Isetta brand will be spelled “i-Setta”, though there’s no official release from BMW confirming this as far as I know, just hearsay from sources said to be close to BMW. Look after the jump to watch the new Isetta video!

Click here to read the rest of BMW says hello to an old friend, the Isetta

As it is about to take a leap into a new future of electric cars and M-badged SUVs, BMW revisits its past with this video that it produced about the BMW 1500 from the 1960s. The BMW 1500 was one of the BMW New Class line of compact sedans and it featured a 1,499cc single-cam engine producing 80 horsepower at 5,700rpm which was really not bad at that time. The 1500 in 1961 was also the first BMW with a Hofmeister kink. Look after the jump to watch the video.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Back to the 60s – the BMW 1500

The full details of the new E-Class Estate are here. The new E-Class Estate measures 4895mm long, 1854mm wide and 1471mm tall and can carry up to a maximum of 1950 liters. It looks like a pretty sweet wagon really, with a proper wagon-like roofline. Give me this anytime rather than a fancy elongated hatchback with a sloping roofline!

A total of 10 engines will be available with the new W212 Estate, with an initial 5 engines offered – the E220 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, E250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, E350 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, E 350 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY and the V8-powered E500.

Like most estate vehicles that are anticipated to carry heavier loads than their sedan brethren, the W212 Estate features an automatic self-levellling suspension at the rear as standard equipment, which helps ensure the ride height remains at the same level no matter what the vehicle’s load is. The suspension setup has been modified over the sedan version for the wagon – this means its got stiffer shock absorbers and torsion bar stabilisers.

Look after the jump for a nice full hi-res photo gallery.

Click here to read the rest of New E-Class Estate: full details and photos unveiled!

A new Spring Tyre developed by NASA and Goodyear was installed on NASA’s Lunar Electric Rover test vehicle and put through its paces at the Johnson Space Center’s “Rock Yard” in Houston. The new Spring Tyre is meant to carry much heavier vehicles over much greater distances than the wire mesh tire previously used on the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV).

What exactly is a Spring Tyre? No, it’s not a seasonal tyre like winter tyres. It’s actually a tyre that uses 800 load bearing springs. The spring design contours to the surface on which it’s driven to provide traction. The energy used to deform the tyre is returned when the springs rebound. This design does not generate heat like a normal tyre. Lead innovator Jim Benzing from Goodyear said the tyre design is extremely durable and energy efficient.

Traditional rubber tyres have little utility on the moon, thus the use of wire mesh tires and soon, the Spring Tyre. Rubber properties vary significantly between the extreme cold and hot temperatures experienced in the shaded and directly sunlit areas of the moon. Unfiltered solar radiation (the moon has no atmosphere) also degrades rubber, and rubber tyres also run the risk of deflation as it needs to be filled with air. With the Spring Tyre, there is no single point of failure. A hard impact that may cause the rubber tyre to puncture and deflate will only affect one spring out of the 800 load-bearing springs on a Spring Tyre.

What this extended carrying distance and capacity means is that broader exploration of the moon will be enabled and hopefully it will eventually lead to the development and maintenance of a lunar outpost.

Perhaps one day all of this research will end up improving the way we design our vehicle’s contact patches. Michelin has also toyed with the idea of a new type of wheel called the Tweel and it recently announced a new lunar wheel based on the tweel.

Look after the jump for a NASA video on the new Spring Tyre.

Click here to read the rest of Goodyear and NASA develop lunar Spring Tyre

Felipe Massa is up and on his feet and can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of his Formula 1 car. He did an exclusive interview with the Ferrari.com official website where he talked about the crash, and Michael Schumacher driving his car, amongst other things. According to Massa, the crash was a strange sort of feeling. He knew that something had happened to him but he didn’t feel anything when it happened. He just lost consciousness and the next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital two days later. So no, he didn’t consciously brake the car before it hit the barriers. Watch the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Massa’s first interview after his crash

BMW F1 driver Nick Heidfeld and two-time motorbike world champion Troy Corser swap their race machines in this video produced sometime late last month. If you think about it… was this a subtle hint by BMW to Heidfeld that he will soon have to look to other forms of racing instead of his current BMW F1 car? Probably not… that’s got too much conspiracy theory kind of madness in it. Ah well. Watch the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Heidfeld races against an F1 car… on a bike

In this video released by the boys at Munich, BMW’s Head of Project for the BMW X1 Peter Krist talks about BMW’s smallest X model to date, which is quite close to size to the current generation and soon to be replaced BMW X3. It’s also the first X1 to be available in rear wheel drive as well as all-wheel drive.

Nothing odd about the X1 to be, there are plenty who want an SUV but want it closer to a sedan’s driving feel and don’t want to handle something overly large – so the X3 has room to move up a size right between the X1 and the X5. There’s quite some room between the X1’s 2,760mm wheelbase and the X5’s 2,933mm wheelbase – somewhere around 2,850mm perhaps, which is a decent size up from the current X3’s 2,795mm wheelbase.

Watch the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Peter Krist on the new BMW X1 SAV

New shocker in the Formula One scene – BMW has announced that it will be exiting F1 at the end of 2009, after a 3 year run in the team’s current incarnation, the BMW Sauber F1 team. In the middle of 2005, BMW acquired the Swiss team Sauber and took to the starting grid under the team’s new name.

“Unfortunately, we were unable to meet expectations in the current season. Nevertheless, our ten years of Formula One experience have had a major impact on our development engineers. We have racing to thank for numerous technological innovations as well as the competitive spirit that drives us to develop mass-produced cars,” said board member Dr. Klaus Draeger.

NEW VIDEO: BMW withdraws from F1

“The main reason for this decision was not our current performance in Formula One racing or the general economic situation. It was solely the company’s strategic realignment. Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us. Mario Theissen has been in charge of our motor sports program since 1999. We have scored a large number of successes in this period, including some in Formula One racing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mario Theissen and his team for this,” said chairman Dr. Norbert Reithofer.

Looks like the green movement killed yet another Formula One team, as similiar reasons were given by Honda when it decided to exit the sport. BMW will continue to participate in other sports like the ALMS, and of course, Formula BMW. These activities will continue to be supervised by Mario Theissen. The focus in the future will be more on programs like Efficient Dynamics.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen to the team. Perhaps someone will buy them over, and one man rumoured to possibly step in and take over the team is Peter Sauber, the man whose name is the other half of the team’s name. Whatever it is, BMW will work to find solutions for all current F1 employees, and someone else taking over is definitely one of them. Our national oil company Petronas could continue their F1 sponsorship with this new team and their new owners, if they choose to remain in the sport.

They really should make more amusing ads like this. Check out this Volkswagen Touran TV commercial after the jump. They’re promoting the car’s Park Assist system, which by the way is available locally on the Volkswagen Tiguan. The dude in the video can’t dance though but he kinda looks like Schumacher. The Touran is a Golf-based MPV that isn’t available in Malaysia, though there were a number of pre-owned ones (CrossTouran) sold off by Volkswagen Malaysia recently. Volkswagen recently announced that they will start assembly of the Touran in Indonesia.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Touran Park Assist System TVC

BMW has released a series of videos of the new flagship BMW 760Li, powered by a new 6.0 liter twin-turbocharged V12 and an 8-speed automatic transmission from ZF. The new F01/F02 7-Series as of now still remains offered with a 100% turbocharged engine line-up. The 740i, 750i, 760i, 730d, 740d, they’re all turbocharged, with all except one engine featuring two turbochargers instead of one. But BMW needs a 730i/730Li model to compete with the S300 in countries like ours here, and this model is most likely going to be powered by a normally aspirated 3.0 liter N54 or an N55, depending on whether direct injection is offered or not. Anyway watch the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: BMW 760Li with turbo V12 power!