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BMW names new head of M division

BMW's performance division has been run by Dr. Friedrich Nitschke since 2011, developing, among other products, the new M3 and M4. But soon the good doctor will be retiring, and BMW has just named his successor.
Taking Nitschke's place as chairman of BMW M GmbH will be Franciscus van Meel (pictured at right), who until recently served as managing director of Audi Quattro GmbH - the rival outfit that makes Ingolstadt's performance models, including the R8 supercar and RS line of performance models.
Van Meel will join BMW on October 1, presumably to learn the ropes from Nitschke before the 59-year-old executive steps down at the end of the year. Back in January, Audi named Heinz Peter Hollwerweger as head of Quattro GmbH and reassigned van Meel to its Beijing R&D center, a role which evidently didn't suit him as well as creating Autobahn-storming German muscle cars.

Orlando Bloom gets custom BMW S 1000 R by Deus Ex Machina

Gearheads can meet in the most unlikely of places. Take Orlando Bloom and Michael "Woolie" Woolaway. One was starring in a film where the other was working as a gaffer – we'll let you figure out which was which – and a friendship was kindled over their love for motorcycles. As it turns out, Bloom is a bit of a BMW bike enthusiast, and Woolie is the head of the famous Deus Ex Machina custom shop in Venice. The pair teamed up to create a custom four-cylinder Bimmer bike for Bloom based on the S 1000 R, and took it into the Malibu Hills for its first shakedown. Considering the Hollywood setting where they met, it should come as little surprise that they brought a film crew along to artfully document the experience, which you can watch in the four-minute clip above. BMW Motorrad and Orlando Bloom present the BMW S 1000 R Custom. Michael "Woolie" Woolaway from Deus Ex Machina turns Orlando Bloom's vision of a custom bike into reality. Munich/Los Angeles. Everyone knows Orlando Bloom as a successful actor, but not everyone knows about his passion for motorbikes. As a long-standing fan of BMW motorcycles, Orlando Bloom owns and rides a number of BMW models, including old classics. For his own custom bike project he specifically chose the BMW S 1000 R. He asked his good friend, Michael "Woolie" Woolaway, head of the Deus Ex Machina custom shop in Venice, CA, USA, to work with him to bring his custom S 1000 R vision into reality. The result of the cooperation, is a stunning one-off 4 cylinder bike. The S 1000 R Custom and Orlando Bloom had their first test ride in the Malibu Hills while shooting "4CYL", a production by Arthur de Kersauson and Clement Beauvais in cooperation with BMW Motorrad.

BMW brings first diesel 7 Series to US with $82,500* 740Ld xDrive

After almost 40 years on the market, there are probably few things the BMW 7 Series hasn't offered, but when it comes to the US market, one of those things just happens to be a diesel engine. That is all about to change, however, as BMW announced that it will unveil the 2014 740Ld xDrive at the Chicago Auto Show before sales commence later in the spring.
Offered only on long-wheelbase models with standard all-wheel drive, the new diesel 7 is powered by BMW's 3.0-liter inline-six producing 255 horsepower and a stout 413 pound-feet of torque peaking between 1,500 and 3,000 rpm. While BMW has yet to release any type of fuel economy figures, it did say that its diesel technology is usually good for an improvement of 25 to 30 percent over the gas models - just for fun, that means that the 740 Ld xDrive could get as much as 24.7 miles per gallon in the city and 36.4 mpg on the highway, but that's just doing the math and there is nothing official behind those numbers. Acceleration will take a little longer than in the 740Li xDrive (shown above) with BMW stating 6.1 seconds from 0-60 compared to 5.4 seconds for the gas model.
Another small increase over the gas version will be in price, with the 740Ld xDrive getting a starting MSRP of $82,500 (*not including $925 for destination), which is just a $1,500 bump over the 740Li xDrive. For comparison, the Audi A8L TDI starts at $78,800, while the previous-gen Mercedes S350 Bluetec was priced at $93,000. Scroll down for more info on the new diesel-powered 7 Series, and stay tuned to our live coverage from Chicago in a couple weeks as we'll have live images and hopefully more info.