2010 Bmw Certified Pre-owned X5 Awd 4dr 48i on 2040-cars

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BMW wants to expand DriveNow carsharing program to 25 new cities

Daimler's Car2go car-sharing service just announced that it will debut in Rome, its 26th global city. Now, BMW says it wants to expand its own carsharing program to, wait for it, 25 more cities. Coincidence? We think not. BMW is looking to bring its DriveNow carsharing program, with its Mini Coopers and 1 Series, to as many as 15 new cities in Europe as well as 10 in the US, Bloomberg News says, citing comments BMW executive Peter Schwarzenbauer made at the Geneva Motor Show last week. The service is now operational in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Dusseldorf and San Francisco and serves about a quarter-million people. Of course, it's that last city, where DriveNow started operations in August 2012, that's been somewhat problematic. San Francisco has tough guidelines when it comes to where the cars can be parked, with so few public parking areas to choose from. DriveNow charges $39 for membership in San Francisco, then $12 for the first half hour of driving and 32 cents for each additional minute. DriveNow competes directly against Car2go, which charges around $25 to become a member and then 41 cents a minute to rent a Smart ForTwo.

Next-generation BMW 5 Series spied in Touring trim

It almost seems as if BMW just started selling the current-generation 5 Series, yet one of our spy photographers has already spotted a next-generation prototype in Touring form. Little is known about the luxury wagon in this early stage of testing, but it is expected to weigh much less than the current car, which, in 528i Touring guise with an automatic transmission, tips the scale at over 3,800 pounds. It is also expected to have the latest in driver-assistance technology. Despite the weight savings, and judging from the photos, it looks to have proportions similar to the current car, but don't expect the makeshift headlight and taillight clusters to make it onto the production model.
The crucial question for potential Touring customers in the United States is whether BMW will do the unexpected and import it here. The company's track record indicates that it will be sold in Rest of World markets only, but we're hoping that the next 5 Series will end the Touring's U.S. hiatus (and the 5 Series Gran Turismo's reign), which began in 2003 at the end of the E39 generation.

BMW ready to bring more i3, i8 plug-ins to US

BMW has found a receptive audience for its first batches of plug-in vehicles in the good 'ole USA. The German automaker, which started selling its first mass-produced i plug-ins in Europe late last year, will send a higher percentage of those vehicles to the US because of strong demand here, according to Automotive News, which talked with BMW executive Ian Robertson. And the Americans might cause Bimmer to speed up production, to boot. BMW makes the i3 electric vehicle and i8 plug-in hybrid in Germany, and has sold about 10,000 units of the former and 280 of the latter worldwide. Since August, BMW has been selling about 1,000 i3s a month in the US (it sold just 58 i8s in September). The bigger story, though, may be that Bimmer has sold out of its US allocation of i8s through the end of next year. Pretty heady stuff for a car that starts at around $137,000. Currently, BMW builds around 100 i-series vehicles a day in Germany, and may speed up production of the i8 for the aforementioned reason. As for the i3, which comes with an option of a gas-powered range extender, we'd reported earlier this year that the waitlist for that model had grown to about six months. Our i3 First Drive report is here if you'd like to know what all the fuss is about.