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Volkswagen Group, BMW Z4 top Total Value Awards by Strategic Vision

It was just nine months ago that Strategic Vision announced its 2011 Total Value Awards, but you don't have to wait until next year for the 2012 awards. The Volkswagen Group keeps its lead as the number one brand, with seven products taking top category spots: Golf, Jetta Wagon, CC, Eos and Audi A3 Wagon, Q5 and Q7. Strategic Vision says "true innovation" - "rich and impactful, intuitive, motivational, in-depth and is able to trigger description by the user in great specificity" - is the open secret of the brands with the strongest showings. Results are culled from 77,153 owners covering more than 350 new cars bought between September of 2011 and 2012 ranked in the Total Value Index (TVI).
Other notable winners are Hyundai-Kia following VW in the brand category and having the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Sorento among category winners, the BMW Z4 taking the premium roadster category and the highest overall score of any vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt continuing to gather silverware in the Special Category, nabbing the second-highest score of all and representative of "nearly perfect innovation," and Chrysler and Dodge being most improved.
Check out the press release below for your day's dose of jargon and all the winners.

Thermal imagery of BMW M4 DTM pit stop is red hot

A pit stop is a pit stop, right? The race car pulls in, the crew changes the tires, pumps in some fuel, maybe swaps out a busted body panel or squeegees the windshield, and off it goes for another heat. Only pit stops have become the focus of news lately for a number of reasons, whether it's because of mishaps (like the ones that prompted F1 to ban mid-race refueling), new time records (due largely to said ban) or interesting new ways to film the fast-paced action.
A few weeks ago we brought you footage of an IndyCar pit stop filmed from multiple angles courtesy of Google Glass. Now BMW has released a brief clip of one of its M4 DTM racers coming in for fresh rubber, all filmed by infrared camera. Its the kind of technology BMW uses to help optimize its German touring cars for competition, and now the Bavarian outfit has released some footage for fans to enjoy.
The resulting thermal imagery gives you an idea of how hot the car runs (and where the heat is emanating from), how warm they get the fresh rubber before they get it onto the car, and what kind of temperatures the pit crew is subjected to. Look closely enough in the 25-second video below and you'll even see the heat sputtering out of the exhaust pipes as the M4 downshifts into its pit box. (Just don't try adjusting your speakers, the clip is without audio.)

BMW bringing X3 diesel, X5 PHEV concept to New York

We've seen the i3 and i8 plug-in vehicles at plenty of BMW auto show stands these past few years. At the upcoming New York International Auto Show, the automaker will spread out a bit by showing off both new diesel and plug-in hybrid SUVs. Bimmer will showcase its diesel-powered X3 vehicle, which starts sales this spring as a 2015 model, and a concept plug-in hybrid X5 SUV. There are lots of figures to digest for what will be called the X3 xDrive28d. The vehicle will be powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder twin-turbodiesel engine that will deliver 180 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. Propelled in part by an eight-speed automatic transmission, the SUV will be able to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about eight seconds. It will be priced with an MSRP of $42,825, which is represents a $3,500 premium over the base X3. BMW hasn't made fuel efficiency figures available, but they should be a nice improvement over the base X3's 24 mile per gallon fuel-efficiency rating in the US. Bimmer is also supposed to bring the X5 eDrive concept plug-in hybrid stateside. We saw it in Frankfurt last fall and then in some on-the-road spy shots more recently. The SUV pairs a 245-horsepower four-cylinder gasoline engine with a 95-horsepower electric motor, and will be able to go as fast as 75 mph and as far as 20 miles on electric power alone. BMW says fuel efficiency will be about 62 miles per gallon, per the more lenient European Union test cycle. That's more than double the current diesel powered X5's 26 combined mpg rating handed out by the EPA. And the model's 0-60 time is less than seven seconds. If you'd like to know more, you can take the better part of the day and check out Bimmer's mighty long press release below. BMW X4 Sports Activity Coupe and M4 Convertible Make World Debut at 2014 New York International Auto Show New BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe and BMW ALPINA B6 xDrive Gran Coupe to make North American debuts Updated BMW X3 Sports Activity Vehicle also makes North American debut including first BMW Advanced Diesel X3 model for the US BMW Concept X5 eDrive showcases new dimension of BMW EfficientDynamics technology Woodcliff Lake, NJ – April 3 , 2014 6:00pm EDT/3:00pm PDT. . . The all-new BMW X4 Sports Activity Coupe as well as the BMW M4 Convertible make their world debuts at the 2014 New York International Auto Show. North American debuts include the all-new BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe as well as the BMW ALPINA B6 xDrive Gran Coupe.