2011 Bmw X5 Xdrive50i Sport Utility 4-door 4.4l on 2040-cars

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Mercedes leads in US luxury car thefts

Mercedes-Benz makes some fine automobiles. The Silver Arrow'd cars are so good, apparently, that thieves can't help but try to steal them. The German brand is at the top of the charts for luxury car thefts in the US, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, with New York City leading the way. (And those New Yorkers complain about Detroit being bad!)
The C-Class was the most stolen model, with 485 ganked between 2009 and 2012 in NYC alone, while the E-Class and S-Class (which also boasted the worst recovery rate, at 59 percent) both finished in the top ten. Following the C-Class was the BMW 3 Series and Infiniti G. Not surprisingly, each of these were the most common models in their respective lineups. Los Angeles and Miami are also prime hotspots for luxury car thefts, according to the Detroit News report.
While getting your car stolen is pretty awful, there was one inspiring statistic compiled by the NICB - the average recovery rate across the board was 84 percent, with the Cadillac CTS getting recovered 91 percent of the time.

Autoline streaming live from Detroit Auto Show right now

As you can already see, the Autoblog team is digging deep to bring you everything from the Detroit Auto Show media days today and tomorrow, with obsessive coverage of all of the new sheetmetal, hot concepts and industry news. But we're hardly alone in Cobo Hall, and our friend John McElroy and his Autoline team have fired up a live video webcast with interviews from the show floor that you can watch right now by scrolling below. The daily streaming broadcasts start at 1:00 PM Eastern today and tomorrow, with a large number of A-list executives, designers, and product planners from both domestic and foreign automakers are expected to sit in. Interviewees scheduled to appear include Al Gardner, President and CEO of Chrysler; David Zuchowski, brand-new President and CEO of Hyundai Motor America; Doug Scott, Truck Group Marketing Manager at Ford; and Peter Schreyer, President and Chief Design Officer at Kia. For the live feed and a full list of guests for both days, scroll below. Live broadcast by Ustream [Pop-out Chat Window] Day One Al Gardner, President and CEO, Chrysler Brand Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America Doug Scott, Truck Group Marketing Manager, Ford Tim Mahoney, Chief Marketing Officer, Global Chevrolet Heiko Schmidt, Head of C-Class Product Planning, Mercedes-Benz USA Filip Brabec, Product Planning Manager, Audi of America Day Two Bob Ferguson, Senior Vice President, Global Cadillac Dave Zuchowski, President and CEO, Hyundai Motor America Mike Manley, President & CEO, Jeep Brand Peter Schreyer, President and Chief Design Officer, Kia Tom Kearns, Chief Designer, Kia Design Center America Jim Lentz, COO, Toyota Motor NA Tony Nicolosi, President & CEO, Volvo Cars North America Jose Munoz, Executive VP & Chairman, Nissan Americas Auto News Detroit Auto Show Audi BMW Chrysler Ford Kia Videos Detroit Autoblog 2014 Detroit Auto Show autoline Peter Schreyer

BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is the world's first front-drive Bimmer [w/videos]

While BMW has been showing concepts for its Active Tourer for over a year, they never seemed entirely real. Why would BMW, a company that has built its image on sporty, rear-wheel drive sedans, move into the five-door, front-wheel-drive market? The answer is still not entirely clear, but the new BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is very real. It launches in Europe later this year and is rumored to come to the US in 2015.
To brand purists, a front-wheel drive BMW may seem anathema to everything the company has built, and the production Active Tourer has clearly been built to provide drivers with a luxurious but utilitarian package first and foremost. It is 170.9 inches long and rides on a 105.1-inch wheelbase, but despite its compact dimensions, its high roof allows for 16.53-cubic-feet of cargo space with the rear seats up or 53.33 cubic feet with them folded flat. Its general appearance is nearly identical to the previous concepts, except with a blunter nose and cleaner lines. The front end wears BMW's traditional dual circular headlights and naturally, while the profile incorporates the company's traditional Hofmeister kink into the greenhouse's rear pillar. The interior has been designed to be especially useful with a sliding rear seat, adjustable rear backrests, fold-flat backrests and optional features like an automatic tailgate and panoramic sunroof.
Unlike both previous concepts, none of the Active Tourer models at launch use hybrid power. For Europe, the hatchback is going on sale with three engine options. The basic version is the 218i Active Tourer with a 1.5-liter, turbocharged three-cylinder with 134 horsepower that we just previewed in the 2014 Mini Cooper - good enough for average fuel economy of 48 miles per gallon in the EU cycle when equipped with a six-speed manual. The next step up is the 225i Active Tourer with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that makes 228 hp and offers 39-mpg average fuel economy. Finally, there is the there is the 218d Active Tourer with its 148-hp, 2.0-liter turbodiesel and 57 mpg average fuel economy on the EU cycle. A six-speed manual is standard on all of them, but there is a six-speed automatic option for the 218i and eight-speed automatics available for the 225i and 218d. All-wheel drive will be available on future models.