BMW to Debut M Performance 3-Series Touring Line at Essen Motor Show

About a month after the SEMA Show that kicks off today, Europe will have its own aftermarket festival in the guise of the 45th annual Essen Motor Show, which takes place in Germany from December 1 to 9.
The BMW brand will be there with a host of production and racing models including its full M Performance range and Original BMW Accessories lineup.
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BMW

Karl Friedrich Rapp is the name of the founder of BMW - one of the biggest world wide car manufacturing companies. BMW or Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works) was founded in 1916 as a successor to the Rapp Motor.

Many people think that the logo of BMW comes from a spinning white propeller seen in the background of the blue sky. This may be so but in fact it is known that it also comes from the white and blue flag of Bavaria - the largest state of Germany. The capital city of the state is Munich and this is the place where even today we can find the BMW Headquarters.

In 1916 with the foundation of the company a contract was secured for building V12 engines. These engines were about to be used in the creation of the automobiles from Austro-Daimler. These 12 cylinders V engines were at first used in aircraft which is the original plan of the BMW Company. Taking in account the time when the company was founded it was very likely for them to continue like that.

However in 1919 after the World War I and the Treaty of Versailles the production of aircraft in Germany was prohibited and that quickly changed the politics of BMW. They began making brakes for the Rail transport. Soon after that BMW was able to design a motorcycle engine which was used for the creation of a motorcycle called with the model name Victoria. However Victoria was not built by BMW but by another company in Nuremberg.

In 1924 BMW made a model of a motorcycle which was the first one they built - the R32. This was a turning point in the BMW history because it was a major achievement and for decades they used its technology - 500 cc engines cooled down by the air. Soon after that BMW added one new innovation - the driveshaft. It came to replace the chain for driving the rear wheel and became a mark of BMW for quite some time.

In the German city Eisenach in 1927 began the production of Dixi - under license but only a year after that the Dixi Company was bought by BMW and they began mass production together with the model Austin Seven.

When the World War I began BMW took its place in it because of the German army's motorized division. They used BMW R75 together with BMW R12. Because of the high need of engines BMW note that period as highly profitable. BMW was the main supplier and even today words like Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht brings many memories. Some of the best planes in that historical time used the BMW aero-engines and till the 1945 more than 30 000 planes with these engines were manufactured.

BMW even made researches which enabled the company to make different jet engines for weapons. With the use of some men power consisting mainly by prisoners of the war BMW made many rocket-based weapons that were used in the war.

Soon after the creation of the rocket-based weapons parts of the company were bombed. Soviets razed to the ground most of the company located in eastern Germany and the base factory in Munich was almost completely destroyed.

After the war BMW was not able to quickly recover because of the need to rebuild the factory in Munich. After that when the restrictions from the Allies applied BMW was banned for three long years in which the company was forbidden from producing motorcycles until 1948 and cars until 1952.

In 1951 the Bavarian company was able to regain all trademarks and it looked like it was finally able to recover and start again from what was left. In 1959 Herbert Quandt became the "wheel" which turned the BMW around because he denied a deal with Daimler-Benz and soon after that he increased his share in the BMW Company up to 50%.

The name of Kurt Golda is stated as the man who incited Quandt to do this step and in the same year BMW began production of the BMW 700 which was based on the BMW 600. This small car used 2-cylinder, air-cooled engines and some years later it was renamed to "LS". Coupe and some cabriolet series were also manufactured.

In 1963 BMW offered dividends to the shareholders of the company and in 1966 the factory in Munich reached its maximum capacity and BMW bought Hans Glas GmbH. This deal enabled BMW to use factories in Landshut and Dingolfing.

With some new style provided by Bertone in 1972 BMW began production of 5 new series and in the years to follow the company made a big progress in the market. For 6 years under the leadership of Bernd Pischetsrieder BMW was able to expand its deal in the market by buying from British Aerospace the Rover Group. Rover Group's history starts in 1986 and till the moment when BMW owned it this company was able to achieve many things like for example the Rover 400 in 1990.

However the Rover was sold to Phoenix Venture Holdings and Ford Motor Company because of some years of losses for BMW. Jokingly the press called the Rover "The English Patient" after the release of the namesake film. This however was not very hard on BMW and they were spared from taking the blame. It looks like that even the British press was not very enthusiastic about the Rover.

BMW began production outside of Germany in 1994. New factories were made in South Carolina and even today the manufacturing of BMW X5 and BMW Z4 is made there. There are factories in some other places too like Oxford, Goodwood and others. After some time of assembly BMW began production in South Africa. Today BMW exports more than 50 000 3 Series vehicles yearly to Japan, USA, Africa, Australia and the Middle East.

U Spy: New BMW M3 F30 Sedan Nearing Closer to Production

CarScoop reader Michael G. from Germany dropped these spy pictures of a prototype BMW model that he captured earlier this week in our mailbox.

"I think this might be the new BMW M3 Saloon," he tells us. "These photos were shot in Munich." Well done Michael, and thank you for sharing these shots with our readers.

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Chevy Camaro Loses a Wheel while Street Racing a BMW M3 [NSFW]

Those of you who like stereotyping vehicle brands and their owners may find a thing or two to say about the participants in what we can only assume to be an amateur street race between a tuned, fourth generation Chevrolet Camaro Coupe and a reportedly turbocharged, E36 BMW M3.

The race for the Camaro came to an end as fast as it accelerated when one of its wheels decided to it was time to call it quits and follow its own independent path.

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Steve Sutcliffe Tests Past and Present BMW M3s to Find Best Recipe for the 2014 Model

Oh, the lengths motoring journalists will go to in order to hit the track on the driver’s seat of a rear-wheel drive car. Then again, it’s all part of the job and to be frank, no one aspires to the profession in order to test Chinese compact cars…

Autocar magazine editor Steve Sutcliffe at least had a good excuse, though, for gathering three examples of BMW’s M-division finest on the Brands Hatch circuit.

With the new turbocharged M3 sedan and M4 Coupe (the name is still not confirmed) spotted quite a few times already making the rounds at the Nürburgring track, he wanted to give his opinion on how the perfect M3 should be like.

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Listen Up: New 2014 BMW M3 Hisses and Growls on the Nürburgring Track

Here's some fresh spy footage of the upcoming, fifth iteration of BMW's highly successful M3 series that dates back to the classic E30 model of the mid-1980s.

The video, which comes to us courtesy of F30 Post, shows the new M3 in four-door sedan configuration running a few hot lamps around the Nürburgring Nordschleife racetrack, as BMW M's engineers fine tune the car's F30 chassis and its new turbocharged straight-six engine, the first of its kind to be used in the series.

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Volvo's 508hp S60 Polestar Performance Versus the BMW M3 and Audi RS4 Avant

Can a Volvo model ever beat the German automakers in their own game? Well, the answer to that question really depends on which game you are referring to since die Deutsche brands have spread their wings in just about every niche there is.

So let's be more specific: can a performance orientated Volvo family car threaten two of Germany's finest and fastest mid-size sports models, the BMW M3 and the Audi RS4?

If we're talking about the Volvo S60 Polestar Performance sedan, it certainly has the brute force to do so. The only problem is that, for now, the S60 Polestar Performance is a one-off model that has yet to receive the green light for even a limited series production run.

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New 2013 BMW M3 Coupe Frozen Limited Edition will Set You Back Over $76k

The sales directors at BMW's M department seem to have found the golden goose in the form of special edition models sporting added standard features and unique shades.

Less than a month after BMW began U.S. deliveries of the 200 examples of its 2013 M3 Lime Rock Park Edition, the Bavarian company came out today with another special series of the V8-powered coupe.

This one is named the 2013 M3 Frozen Limited Edition and for the most part, it's very similar to last year's 2012 M3 Competition Edition of which only 40 units were made available to U.S. customers.

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G-Power Builds Insane BMW 1 M Coupé with 592HP V8 and Top Speed of 330km/h – 205MPH

It was not too long ago that G-Power introduced its first take on the BMW 1 M Coupé with a 429hp (435PS) performance tune. Now, the famed BMW tuning brand is taking it a few steps further with its new G1 V8 HURRICANE RS model.

While the G-Power 1 M Coupé made use of the original model's 3.0-liter turbocharged straight six, the G1 HURRICANE RS borrows the 4.0-liter V8 engine from the M3 E92 Coupe.

In fact, G-Power installed the entire powertrain from the M3 including the DCT double-clutch transmission gearbox and stainless steel exhaust system, and while it was at it, also made use of the M3's front and rear axles!

Being the power-hungry company that it is, the Germany tuner wasn't satisfied with the stock engine's 414hp (420PS) so it bolted on a customized ASA supercharger system along with several other goods such as an aluminium cast air box that boost output to 591hp (600PS) and peak torque to 580Nm (428 lb-ft).

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Scoop: Listen to the Turbocharged Sounds of the 2014 BMW M3 Sedan

A new BMW M3 is coming. But you already know that. Perhaps then, we can pique your interest with a short film of an F80 M3 prototype filling the Caracciola Karussell at the Nürburgring Nordschleife with the racy sounds of its new turbocharged inline-six engine, courtesy of YouTube user 'Nurburgdale'.

Replacing the 414hp unforced induction V8 engine of the current model, the heavy-breathing straight-six is pegged to deliver somewhere around 450-ponies.

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Rare 1989 BMW M3 Convertible and 1993 M5 Touring for Sale in the U.S.

A Cincinnati, Ohio-based dealership has listed two rare, if not unique since neither was officially imported in the United States, BMW models, including a 1989 M3 Convertible and a 1993 M5 Touring, but you better be willing to dig deep into your wallet if you are interested.

According to the Enthusiast Auto Group dealer, both cars were imported to the States from Europe and are said to be fully street legal.

We will start our tour with the E30 M3 Convertible, of which only 786 are believed to have been produced from mid-1988 to mid-1991.

This example is from 1989 and it is powered by a 2.3-liter naturally-aspirated inline four, though we're not sure if it’s in non-catalyst (197HP /200PS) or catalyst (192HP / 195PS) form.

The mileage on the red-colored soft top is 66,980 (107,770 kilometers) while the price is listed at a hefty $65,990 (€52,400).

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Teen Dirt Crashes BMW M3, Gets Punched in the Face by Airbag

We don't need to explain why high-powered, rear-wheel drive sports cars and young at age and in experience drivers are a recipe for trouble, but maybe we could give you an example via a video of an accident that made its way on YouTube.

The clip shows a young man, possibly in his late teens, driving what looks like an E46 BMW M3 Coupe swiftly through a two-lane road in Arizona when he fails to turn the German sports car at a bend and heads straight into the rocks.

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BMW M Remembers its Roots and How the Sub-Brand Took Off

Forty years ago, in May of 1972, BMW introduced a new sub-division for its racing activities named BMW Motorsport GmbH.

After the success of cars like the 3.0 CSL Coupé on the racetrack, the sub-brand that eventually became known simply as BMW M, introduced its first production model, the limited run M1 in 1978.

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Spy Shots: BMW Engineers Hone the Next M3 Sedan on the Nürburgring

We may be in the midst of August but BMW engineers are hard at work developing the Bavarian firm's upcoming models such as the next M3 that our spy shooters captured lapping the Nürburgring just earlier today.

While technically this is the fifth generation of the M3 series, BMW has produced only two sedan versions of its high-performance model based on the 1990-1999 E36 and the 2005-2011 E90 3-Series respectively.

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Watch this Week's Unlimited 500 Racing Showdown

If you are in the mood for high-horsepower duels, we have a little something for you from this week's Unlimited 500 drag race events in Moscow.

We'll get straight to the point and introduce you to the competitors starting with the first video in which we see a monstrous Chrysler 300C SRT8 with a 950hp 7.0-liter supercharged V8 (NOS) taking on a Cadillac CTS-V sporting a stock 556hp supercharged V8 and then a BMW M6 ESS VT3 cranking out 900-ponies.

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Scoop: 2014 BMW M3 Prototype Poses and Growls for the Camera

On Thursday, we told you that BMW is rumored to be readying a lightly veiled concept version of the next M3 sedan for the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.

But since that's a long time to wait, the crew from Bimmerpost secured a spy video of one of the newest prototype models of the M3 performance sedan while undergoing hot weather testing in Spain.

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BMW Rumored to Debut M3 Sedan Concept at the 2013 Geneva Show, Allegedly Won't Offer a Manual

According to the grapevine, or to be more precise, Autoweek magazine, BMW will lift the covers off a new M3 Sedan concept at the 2013 Geneva Salon next March, much like it did with the current M3 Coupe that was shown as a pre-production study at the 2007 edition of the Swiss motor show.

If this holds true, then the Bavarians will likely present the final production model later in the same year – possibly at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show – and put it up for sale by spring of 2014 for Europe and later in the year for the rest of the world.

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BMW M3 Coupe Driver Has a Very Bad Day on the Highway

One of the worst things that can happen to a driver on a highway is to lose control of a vehicle under bad road / weather conditions caused by heavy rain, ice or snow, as most of the times, there is not much you can really do, especially when travelling at high speeds.

That said, one should not tempt their fate and the laws of physics like this driver of a current generation BMW M3 Coupe who though it would be a cool idea to stomp on the gas pedal and swiftly change lanes while it was pouring rain.

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Scoop: 2014 BMW M3 Sedan Speculatively Rendered

We know that the next BMW M3 sedan is coming and we have a general idea of what it will look like thanks to an abundance of spy shots over the past year, but if you are still having a hard time visualizing the sportiest model in the F30 3-Series range, photoshop artist Wildspeed has put together these renderings. Read more »

MR Car Design Spends €130,000 to Turn Rare BMW M3 CSL into a Racecar

Among the numerous limited edition M3s produced by BMW over the model's 26-year long history, the 2004 M3 CSL (for Coupé Sport Leichtbau, which translates to Lightweight Sport Coupe) holds a special place in the hearts of bimmer fans.

Only 1,383 cars were produced for its 2004 model year run, with the emphasis being put on reducing weight over the regular model. The CSL had a curb weight of 1,385 kg (3,050 lb) making it 110 kg (240 lb) lighter than the normal M3, while other enhancements included a more powerful engine and a re-tuned suspension.

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