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BMW 2 Series caught uncovered during shoot

Before we know it, the BMW 1 Series will be no more in the United States. Well, sort of. The current six-year-old coupe and convertible will be replaced by the fancy new 2 Series you see here, spotted completely uncovered during a photo shoot, with the 1 Series nomenclature being reserved for the hatchback and GT models that might not ever make it Stateside.
The roofline of the new 2 Series doesn't appear to have to changed all that much from the current 1 Series coupe, but the front and rear fascias have indeed been smoothed out. (Truth time: As much as your author adores the 1 Series, he's always found its rear end to be, well, weird.) It looks good, seen here in M235i guise, with large wheels, slimmer headlamps and large air intakes on either side of the front fascia.
The 2 Series is expected to come to the States, likely in M235i and 228i variants, though rumors suggest that we won't get a non-M 235i model. The M235i is expected to be powered by the N55 turbocharged inline-six that we currently enjoy in the 335i sedan, producing something like 320 horsepower. The 228i, unsurprisingly, should use the 2.0-liter turbo-four from the 328i, making around 240 hp. Both engines will almost certainly employ eight-speed automatic transmissions and six-speed manuals.

New BMW i3-like Visio.M EV concept uses lightweight resin

It's not a new version of the BMW i3, but an updated version of a lightweight concept car from SABIC, BMW, the Technical University of Munich, Daimler and others does bear a certain resemblance to the well-designed plug-in city car. From the black "glass" in the hatch to the angled line tail lights to the up-and-down window line, you can see a sort of family resemblance (see an i3 comparison photo here). And, of course, they both have an electric powertrain. But the changes made to the new lightweight urban electric concept vehicle is more of an exercise in what's possible rather than a way to evolve the i3 and i8 into a broader i family of vehicles. Even so, what we see here is interesting, since SABIC found all sorts of new ways to take weight out of the car as part of the Visio.M (Visionary Mobility) project, which was first announced in 2012. Let's start with the window material, which as you might guess from the quotation marks above, is not made of glass but is instead SABIC's Lexan polycarbonate (PC) resin plastic. The lower weight (the PC helps shed about 29 pounds) adds two miles of range while the PC resin has better thermal conductivity compared to glass and so does even more because the HVAC system can be more efficient. According to SABIC's computational fluid dynamics analysis, an extra 9-10 miles of range, in fact. Without the battery, this concept weighs just 992 pounds. Remember, BMW already made a lot of weight-reduction measures in the i3 thanks to carbon fiber reinforced plastic, so to make the "glass" lighter would only help boost efficiencies on a production vehicle that uses a resin like this. Read more below. SABIC's LEXAN™ resin delivers weight savings and thermal efficiency for new ultra-lightweight electric car concept developed by BMW-led Visio.M Consortium Munich, October 20, 2014 Today, at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), BMW, Daimler, TUM scientists and a consortium of industry participants showcased a lightweight urban electric concept vehicle with various advances, including an all-plastic design of the car's windows. The windows are made of LEXAN resin, a polycarbonate (PC) material, and coating technologies from SABIC, a leading developer of PC glazing for automotive windows and many other thermoplastic solutions for the automotive industry.

BMW i5 could be a new kind of i PHEV

Just this month BMW North America CEO Ludwig Willisch made a point of saying "Not any time soon" to AutoblogGreen's question about the arrival of a BMW i5 - and that came after he clarified, in case we didn't know it, that no such model exists. But the rumors of its eventual appearance were swelled again by a report in Autobild that sticks more details and numbers on what could be the next offering in for the i brand. In February, Car magazine laid the i5 out as having a 245-horsepower four-cylinder engine in front, assisted by a 204-hp e-motor in the bow and a 90-hp e-motor in the stern, for about 544 total horsepower. Autobild claims the gas engine will have 218 hp, the front e-motor will have 150 hp and the rear will have 272 hp, for roughly 640 total horsepower. Where the two reports agree is that it - maybe called i5, maybe i7 - will be based on the China-market long-wheelbase 5 Series platform, it will incorporate cues from both the 7 Series and 6 Series Gran Coupe, and it will not be cheap: 100,000 euros ($105,686 US) is the estimate. The i8 starts at 130,000 euros in Germany. Weight for the i5 is figured to be around 3,300 pounds. Green Car Reports says what's important about the i5's drivetrain is that it's being maximized for electric running. Its evolution of the company's eDrive mechanicals will crank the ICE over only above 36 miles per hour, and even then, only in cases of "maximum power demand." Electric-only driving would offer a range of 78 miles, company officials suggesting that it could remain in that mode for "fully two-thirds of its usage cycle." Whenever a vehicle like this arrives, that is, which Autobild says could be in 2019.