2016 Bmw I8 I Sulev on 2040-cars

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BMW Shanghai: Driving in mega cities, designing the future and more

The BMW enclave is a suitable mix of high-tech and throwback cool.
A few days before the Shanghai Motor Show kicked off, we were part of an international group of media that was invited to have a look at the BMW Designworks Shanghai Studio and ConnectedDrive Lab facility. The building that BMW found to house its Chinese think tank is in a lovely part of Shanghai known as the former French Concession. The late 1890s and early 1900s French architectural style, brick-paved streets and tree-lined spaces feel a world apart from the ultra-modern heart of Shanghai, and the BMW enclave is a suitable mix of high-tech and throwback cool.

Husqvarna sold to KTM CEO Stefan Pierer

A couple of days ago the UK's Motorcycle News reported that BMW was in the final stages of selling Husqvarna to KTM, with a deal potentially confirmed as soon as this week. Following that came reports that Husqvarna Motorcycles wasn't sold to KTM but to a Pierer Industries, the company owned by KTM CEO Stefan Pierer. Turns out the advance report was true, as was the follow-up: BMW has just announced a "strategic realignment" of its Motorrad division, explaining that it sold Husqvarna to Pierer Industries in order to focus on the urban and e-mobility segments. Husqvarna's off-road machines, obviously, don't fit into those categories.
BMW bought the Italian-based bike maker with centuries-old Swedish roots in 2007 - the rest of the Husqvarna company remains based in Sweden - and has invested huge sums to integrate the smaller company into the larger parent. Six years later, just when dividends should begin to truly pay off, the brand is sold.
Before BMW made its announcement, one of the theories that forum members put forward for Pierer's interest in purchasing Husqvarna was that he wants his own business to run his own way. The parent company of KTM, Cross Industries, is 47.27-percent owned by India's Bajaj Automotive, with Pierer the majority shareholder, and is on a quest for global growth, taking the fight to BMW in Europe and launching new bikes and technology into the Indian market. Compared to BMW's and KTM's 2012 sales of around 100,000 bikes each in 2012, Husqvarna sold 10,751 bikes, which was a 15.7-percent increase over the previous year. Pierer would have a lot more freedom in the running of a company of that size.

BMW introducing i8 to US with Hello Future Olympics ad

It's not all unfinished hotel rooms and unconventional toilet situations at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. During the broadcast of the opening ceremony tonight, BMW is going to introduce the American TV audience to its plug-in i brand of vehicles. Of course, since we have things like Twitter and YouTube (which the Russian hosts might not be too happy about), you can already see the first spot below. BMW is going all-in on its Olympics ads, saying the campaign is the company's "largest media investment of the year." The first ad, called Hello Future, sets the words of science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke to an array of futuristic cityscape visuals before flashing the i8 onto the screen. Two other spots – called SHHH and Sightings – will also debut during the Games. Those have not yet been placed online, but BMW says that Sightings is about people "trying to describe something they have never seen before; something remarkable and other-worldly" (i.e., the plug-in i8). SHHH, on the other hand, is a short romance, about a "boy who sneaks out in his dad's quiet and all-electric BMW i3 as he tries to impress his dream-girl with the ultimate joyride. In the end, the joyride helps him win the girl." There's a twist, of course, which you can read about in the press release below or just wait until it appears on screen, trying to break through the banal advertising landscape, over the next few weeks. BMW has other connections to the Sochi Olympics as well, including designing the two-man bobsled used by the US Olympic team. There's a contest running regarding that project over on BMWTimeTracker. BMW Debuts BMW i Brand Campaign During NBC's Broadcast of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games First-Ever U.S. Television Commercials for BMW i to Begin Airing on February 7. WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., Feb. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- BMW of North America, the Official Mobility Partner of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), will tune into the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games tonight at 7:30pm ET on NBC, which is expected to be one of the most-watched television events of 2014. During NBC's broadcast of the event, BMW is officially launching the brand campaign for the revolutionary BMW i brand with its largest media investment of the year.