Extra Nice 1997 Bmw 528i Sport Wheels on 2040-cars

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BMW puts a sheep in wolf's clothing with 2 Series Active Tourer M Sport

BMW is charting new territory with the 2 Series. No, not the two-door model - that's just the kind of rear-drive coupe for which the brand is known. But the Active Tourer (which only shares its series designation with the coupe) is a front-drive tall hatchback/MPV category buster, and that's not exactly what comes to mind when you think of Bimmers. As such, the 2 Series Active Tourer is bound to turn off some of the brand's faithful, but this latest M Sport kit could at least ease the pain somewhat.
The sport package for the Active Tourer packs all the usual suspects: a more aggressive aero kit, retuned suspension, blacked-out grille, 17- or 18-inch alloys and an interior with sports seats trimmed in blue-stitched Alcantara. Top all that off with an Estoril Blue paint job and you've got a compact family hauler that might look the part, and maybe handle a bit tighter, yet it naturally stops short of the full M treatment (or even an M Performance spec like you'd find in the M235i coupe). All of which is probably just as well, because that might be the only thing BMW purists would object to more than the existence of a front-drive BMW MPV in the first place.

BMW, Ferrari, VW cars use tungsten mined by terrorists

Bloomberg Markets is reporting that BMW, Volkswagen and Ferrari have been using tungsten ore sourced from Columbia's FARC rebel terrorists. The extensive story focuses on Columbia's illegal mining trade and calls into question the provenance of the rare ore that is used not only in crankshaft parts production, but is also found in the world's computing and telecommunications industry for use in screens.
The ore is mined by the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army), and exported to Pennsylvania, where it is refined. The refined ore is then sent over to Austria, where a company called Plansee turns it into a finished product. Now, it's important to note that we aren't talking about the world's supply of tungsten here. In 2012, Plansee's American refinery purchased 93.2 metric tons of tungsten, valued at $1.8 million. That's peanuts, with the entire Colombian tungsten mining industry producing just one percent of the world's supplies.
That doesn't make indirectly supporting FARC any more acceptable, though. BMW, VW and Ferrari are all committed to not accepting mineral supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also in the grips of a guerrilla insurrection funded, in part, by illegal mining. The same commitment would figure to extend to Colombian mining, but as BMW points out, it's difficult for a multi-national manufacturer to know where every item in its supply chain comes from. A company spokesperson says as much, telling Bloomberg, "These few grams out of the billions of tons of raw materials passing through the BMW supply chain are of no practical relevance."

BMW to announce location of new plant in Mexico in July

Volkswagen manufactures in Mexico. Soon Audi will as well, and Mercedes-Benz is said to be working on a deal to assemble some of its cars at a Nissan plant in Mexico too. That leaves BMW out of the mix of German automakers building cars South of the Border, but that may soon be rectified, as well.
According to Automotive News, the Bavarian automaker is preparing to announce the site of its first Mexican assembly plant as soon as July, now just two months away. BMW already builds cars for North American consumption at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but has reportedly been keen to capitalize on cheaper labor and the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement to supply vehicles to the United States and Canada especially.
When BMW does announce the site of the plant - reportedly narrowed down to either Hidalgo or San Luis Potosi - it is tipped to work its way up to 100,000 vehicles per year at the new location, potentially to include the 3 Series as well as smaller, front-drive models, including Minis.