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BMW 8 Series coming in 2020

As good as the BMW 7 Series may be – and trust us when we say it is very good indeed – it just can't compete with the marketplace juggernaut that is the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, at least not where global sales are concerned. And with sales come profits, especially at the six-digit price point many of these high-end luxury cars sell for. Put simply, Mercedes is cashing in on the S-Class, and BMW wants a bigger piece of that pie. It comes as little surprise, then, that Autocar reports BMW is currently considering two proposals for a new 8 Series that would slot just above its current 7 Series. One option is the currently-en-vogue four-door coupe. The other option is a more traditional two-door coupe, likely with a cabriolet option. The last time we heard such rumors, BMW was dismissing them back in 2013. Whichever way BMW decides to take its 8 Series plans, Autocar suggests that a concept vehicle ought to hit the show circuit in sometime in 2018, with a production model following in 2020. The car would be based on the underpinnings of the latest 7 Series, with a price considerably less than the Rolls-Royce Ghost (which also falls under the BMW umbrella). Considering BMW's penchant for multiple model variants, we won't be surprised if all three options get the green light, with a Gran Coupe version standing as the flagship. With the 6 Series Gran Coupe currently priced just below the 7 Series (and at a hefty premium to a comparable 5 Series four-door), an 8 Series would likely brush up against $100,000 for a base price. That might not take much out of S-Class sales, but it would make some tidy profits for BMW. Related Video:

Park your BMW with a wave, 3D instrument clusters, and more

Remote parking your car with a smartphone app is so 2015. In the future envisioned by BMW, you can park your car by giving it hand gestures. Meanwhile, the car will sync with your smart home and display traffic information on your hallway mirror. It's all part of a giant list of concepts and technologies BMW is bringing to the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show. Let's break down some of the big ideas BMW's bringing to this year's CES. Park By Waving Actually, you don't even need to wave to get this i3 Concept to start moving. From inside your house, simply picking up the key can signal your connected garage door to open and tell your car to pull out into the driveway. Out in the wider world this concept takes automated parking a step further than current in-car parking assistance systems. Once a spot is found, the driver gets out and waves at the car. The i3 then does all the movement on its own. What's the benefit of watching your car park instead of sitting inside while it parks itself? Not much, other that the ability to fit into narrow parking spaces. But I'm a sucker for automation like this, as long as it works better than those infernal foot-kick tailgate opening systems. The Bumper That Snitches For You If you have a car already covered in cameras, why not use them for more than parking? Bumper Detect is BMW's take on the valet-mode recording in the Chevrolet Corvette. But instead of filming any motion, BMW's system monitors the body and bumpers for any unexpected impacts and immediately captures the footage. An alert goes to the driver's smartphone via the BMW Connected App, with available live streaming images. Samsung Smart Things And The Smart Home The i3 on display at CES intergrates Samsung's Smart Things app into the iDrive controller. This allow you to use connected smart home features inside the car, like turning off lights or adjusting the thermostat. BMW's vision further into future integrates the car into the home even more with what the automaker calls Open Mobility Cloud. You can call it a personal assistant or an evil digital spy, depending on your perspective of this kind on technology. In any case, Open Mobility Cloud uses predictive algorithms to plan the day and give relevent information through BMW's smartphone app or – in a super futuristic way – a Mobility Mirror inside the house.

A look back on BMW, South Carolina and Southern manufacturing

It has been 20 years since BMW broke ground on its Spartanburg, SC manufacturing facility, and while the automaker doesn't have any plans to mark the moment, economists and industry analysts have taken a closer look at the facility's impact on South Carolina, the South and global manufacturing. As of November, the Spartanburg plant's 7,000 employees cranked out 25,000 vehicles per month, and BMW has poured some $6 billion into the state since the plant opened in 1993. While that figure nearly matches the state's proposed budget for next year, some say there have been drawbacks.
To begin with, South Carolina provided BMW with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public money and tax breaks with little public oversight, setting a precedent that would repeat itself with other corporations. The Detroit News reports that a Pew Center evaluation found 26 states didn't have a sufficient system for evaluating tax incentive performance. But BMW opened the door for a Southern manufacturing renaissance, with automakers from Mercedes-Benz to Hyundai and Volkswagen opening plants in the Deep South.
While states have raced to offer ever sweeter tax and cash incentives for big manufacturers, officials say BMW is proof the system can pay dividends. You can read the full piece here.