BMW News

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‘New’ BMW M5 Competition

We just missed the print deadline last month with the arrival of the LCI M5 Competition, so here it is this month taking centre stage in all its Imola Red glory. The Life Cycle Impulse or midgeneration refresh that hit the G30 5 Series (we covered this in last month’s BMW News), has now found its way onto the F90 M5 Competition, meaning new front headlights and grill design, new LED tail lights, a chassis tuned for on-track performance with the addition of new dampers plus a larger 12.3-inch Central Information Display powered by BMW Operating System 7.0. According to BMW UK, the LCI F90 M5 Competition has an OTR of £98,095.

BMW and MINI retailers across the UK have reopened their doors to customers, and as inbound enquiries continue to rise, BMW Group UK has launched new digital car locator tools on the BMW and MINI websites to support customers with their next purchase. Customers using the New Car

Locator will have real time access to the entire network of new stock vehicles at retailers across the UK. Each vehicle

The M5 Competition still uses the same S63 4.4-litre twinturbo V8 which produces 625bhp and 750Nm of torque, although these figures have proven to be very conservative in rolling road tests. The M5 Competition, utilising its all-wheel drive traction, can scorch to 60mph from rest in a scant 3.1 seconds, before the fun stops at an electronically limited 155mph. Although, with the limiter removed this is a genuine 200mph car…

This is of course a very brief overview of the LCI package for the F90 M5 Competition as the list of features, both standard and optional, is very long, so if you would like more info please

BMW UK launches new digital car locator

visit bmw.co.uk. listing provides extensive technical details, specification information, pricing and accompanying imagery.

In what is clearly going to be a challenging year for automotive retail, it is more important than ever that BMW UK provide customers with the right tools to research their next vehicle from home.

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‘Boney M’ M1 up for sale

This stunning red M1 was delivered to its first owner, a Herr Franz Reuther in Berlin in February 1980. Herr Reuther was better known as Frank Farian, a German record producer, founding member and one of the voices behind the 1970s pop group and disco sensation ‘Boney M’.

Herr Reuther/Farian enjoyed driving the M1 and in 1989 he

had the Procar style body kit and BBS wheels fitted. He finally parted ways with his M1 in 2008, the car has since had two more owners and covered a total of 90,000kms (55.9k miles) before coming into the possession of Sussex based specialist car dealer Dylan Miles, where the M1 was still for sale as we went to press.

Here’s your chance to be Daddy Cool in this fabulous M1, but it’s going to cost you...

BMW M1 Procar goes to Auction…

This amazing M1 Procar goes across the block at the RM Sotheby’s auction on August 13th – 15th at Monterey. This M1 carries the chassis number 1195 and was the 36th BMW M1 Procar made, out of a total of just 54. The car was ordered by Joe Crevier who drove it alongside Al Unser Jr. at the 1981 Riverside Six Hours race. It was also raced in the IMSA GT Championship, with its best finish being 8th overall at both Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio in 1981.

The M1 was recently restored ahead of sale, and has been seen at events like the Le Mans Classic.

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Apple CarKey coming to BMW cars

BMW is the first carmaker to install Apple CarKey technology, and the new LCI 5 Series is the first model vehicle to be Apple ‘digital key’ ready

At July’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, the company announced that BMW will become the first carmaker to enable its customers to use their iPhone as a fully digital car key, and the first BMW to be equipped with CarKey technology is the new LCI 5 Series.

The process is quite simple. You first pair your iPhone or Apple Watch with a car that supports CarKey. Next, you hold your Apple device near your car door’s handle. The authentication process now starts and you need to use Face ID or Touch ID to unlock the car. There is also an option to skip the authentication which is called Express Mode.

BMW currently offers a similar solution with Android phones. There are also separate apps offered by other automakers which offer a similar functionality. The caveat is that you need to have multiple apps on your iPhone. With the Apple CarKey, you can now consolidate all keys in your Wallet.

BMW was the first automobile manufacturer to integrate iPod in their vehicles, the first to offer wireless CarPlay and now the first to introduce support for BMW Digital Key stored securely in Apple Wallet for iPhone.

Our heartfelt prayers and best wishes go out to Alex.

Alex Zanardi – latest…

Former Williams F1, BMW Touring Car racer and Paralympian Alex Zanardi is in a serious but stable condition after undergoing a second operation on his brain at the beginning of July.

Zanardi was involved in a serious accident in June when the handcycle he was piloting in a race collided with an oncoming HGV. The double amputee (Zanardi had both legs amputated after crashing in the American Memorial 500 CART race at Lausitz, Germany, in 2001) was rushed to hospital in Siena and underwent immediate surgery before being placed into intensive care.

The 53-year-old Paralympian and four-time Paralympic handcycling gold medallist is being treated at the Santa Maria alle Scotte Hospital in Siena, a spokesman said – “His condition remains stable from a cardio-respiratory and metabolic viewpoint, grave from a neurological viewpoint.” It is understood that Zanardi suffered serious facial and cranial trauma, and doctors have warned of possible brain damage.

Everyone at the BMW Car Club GB is praying for Alex and we send our warmest, heartfelt best wishes to Alex and his family.

BMW’s Hungarian expansion goes ahead

The automotive industry may be in turmoil thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it hasn’t stopped BMW and their expansion plans. BMW has confirmed it has recently acquired ownership of 400 hectares of land near the city of Debrecen in Hungary, and technical planning is already underway in preparation for the construction of the new plant.

The new plant will be state of the art, with the total investment said to amount up to €1 billion by the time the plant is up and running. BMW says the new plant will have a capacity of around 150,000 units per year and will employ about 1,000 people.