M Coupe (mini S With 240hp!) on 2040-cars

Auto blog

BMW reveals i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition ahead of Pebble Beach

If you want to be among the first owners in the United States of the new BMW i8, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance will be the place to be next Saturday. That's where Gooding & Company will auction off this one-of-a-kind hybrid supercar.
The BMW i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition was previously slated to be the very first i8 in North America, but has now apparently been downgraded to the guarantee of being among the firsts. In any event, it packs a series of special touches to make it unique. For starters, it's decked out in matte grey with unique brown leather upholstery, blue accents and Pure Impulse Tera World trim, with BMW i8 logos embossed into the headrests, special treat plates and the signatures of several key BMW personnel on the rear parcel shelf.
Pending government approval, it's set to be the first vehicle in the US fitted with laser headlights, and comes equipped with a special key, Louis Vuitton luggage and a "professional edition" BMW Charging Station. Scope out all the details in the press release below and take a closer look in the gallery above.

BMW almost ready to roll out new 2 Series cabriolet

The 2 Series is a relatively new member of the BMW family, having been spun off of the 1 Series (itself one of the company's youngest lines) just last year. So far the range has been split between the Active Tourer and the 2 Series Coupe, but soon the latter will breed a new compact convertible to take the place of the outgoing 1 Series cabriolet, and here we have our best look at it yet.
Spied with the most minimal camouflage and its top down while undergoing its final rounds of development testing, this pre-production 2 Series cabrio looks about ready for show time. While the Active Tourer is based on a different front-drive platform, this convertible is, as you might have guessed, essentially a 2 Series Coupe with a folding fabric roof. That means rear-wheel drive (or potentially all-wheel drive if BMW extends its availability from the coupe to the convertible) win either 228i or M235i specification - both of them turbocharged, the former with a 240-horsepower, 2.0-liter four and the latter with the 320-hp, 3.0-liter inline-six.
Considering that BMW got an approximately $8k premium for the 1 Series convertible over the coupe, expect the 2 Series cabrio to start at a little over $40k for the 228i and top out at around $53k for the M235i xDrive convertible. That is, assuming BMW offers it in that top spec, because at that rate we're getting perilously close to the $54,900 base price of the 435i convertible.

Next-gen Mini could sire 10 different models including PHEV

The first generation of the reimagined, BMW-backed Mini was a simple things, confined to two body styles - hatchback and four-seat convertible. It wasn't until the second-generation platform came along that Mini began truly expanding, offering a long-wheelbase model, a roadster, a coupe, a five-door crossover, and a three-door, um, thing?
BMW is aiming for 10 to 12 different vehicles from just two brands off one platform.
According to an interview between Automotive News Europe and the BMW board member that oversees Mini, Peter Schwarzenbauer, the funky British brand will be expanding far beyond the seven body styles it currently offers. "With the new ULK architecture, we currently have in mind eight to 10 models," Schwarzenbauer told ANE. That architecture he mentions, will also underpin the BMW 1 Series GT and the BMW X1, meaning that BMW is aiming for 10 to 12 different vehicles from just two brands off one platform (and that's only what we know about).