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Recharge Wrap-up: BMW i sales hit 50k, SsangYong SIV-2 concept

BMW sold its 50,000th i car in January. The i3, which launched in September 2013, made up roughly 83 percent of those sales. The considerably more expensive i8, which launched in June of 2014, understandably made up fewer sales. The i3 is currently sold in 49 countries, while most of the i8's sales came from the US, UK, Germany, and Norway. Through December, cumulative i3 sales reached 17,116 in the US, 5,063 in Germany, 4,494 in Norway, 3,747 in the UK and 1,348 in Switzerland. i8 sales were 2,820 in the US, 964 in the UK and 793 in Germany. BMW sold 29,513 i-Series cars in 2015, and 1,255 in January of 2016. Read more at Hybrid Cars. SsangYong will debut its SIV-2 concept at the Geneva Motor Show. The SIV-2 – which stands for Smart Interface Vehicle – uses a 48-volt mild hybrid system with a turbocharged, 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine, 500-Wh battery pack and 10-kW electric motor. The Korean automaker says the modular SIV-2 platform can also accommodate plug-in hybrid and battery electric versions. Alongside the SIV-2, SsangYong will introduce a new Tivoli XLV crossover, based on the XLV Air concept, which is expected to offer competitive fuel economy. Read more at Green Car Reports. Worcester Polytechnic Institute is receiving a $1 million contract from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) to make recycled plug-in hybrid batteries. The 50-percent cost-share contract will help Worcester Polytechnic scale up its recycling process to make batteries using recycled cathode material. The process, which USABC calls "novel and efficient," will make the batteries less costly than ones made with all-new material, "thereby offering a value-driven path towards improved sustainability." United States Council for Automotive Research executive director Steve Zimmer says, "These programs are critical to advancing the technology needed to meet both near- and long-term goals that will enable broader scale vehicle electrification." Read more in the press release below. USABC AWARDS $1 MILLION TO WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC TO DEVELOP PROCESS FOR RECYCLED PHEV BATTERY CELLS SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb.

BMW M2 reportedly green-lit

A BMW M2 is on the way, according to a sub-forum in the Bimmerpost empire. Of course, we're actively enjoying a few grains of salt, just to be safe, as the post doesn't mention explicit sources, saying only that "multiple inside sources (who have been accurate in the past)," have confirmed the car.
Provided the forum is correct, though, there's some juicy information here. Production is allegedly slated for late fall 2015, with deliveries likely starting in early 2016. The new sports coupe should arrive with 365 to 375 horsepower, courtesy of an upgraded version of BMW's N55 turbocharged, 3.0-liter inline-six.
The report claims BMW also considered a modified version of the 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder found in the Mini Cooper S. That engine, known internally as the B48, would have been called the S48 for M2 duty, a significance that we're sure BMW purists would appreciate (the only BMW engine to wear an S designation was the four-cylinder from the legendary E30 M3).

Jaguar Land Rover to drop supercharged V8 for turbocharged BMW power

There are few things that sound as good as Jaguar's 5.0 liter supercharged V8. As great as it is when the supercharger whines or the exhaust cracks and pops on throttle lift-off as the air pressure equalizes, the basic design dates back to the '90s. Plainly, the engine isn't as efficient as it needs to be, but designing a new V8 from the ground up is an expensive proposition. Instead, Automobile reports that Jaguar Land Rover is set to use a twin-turbocharged V8s supplied by BMW. Scalable architecture is all the rage as automakers streamline designs in order to save costs. For example, Jaguar's current supercharged V6 is quite literally a V8 with two holes missing. They didn't even change the length of the block. It seems both of those designs are on their way out, with the V6 being replaced by a inline-six closely related to the company's inline four. It seems that rather than designing an new and expensive V8 for their top of the line models JLR, is sourcing from BMW. From 1994 to 2000, BMW owned Land Rover. A few models, including the Land Rover Range Rover, used BMW engines then and in the initial years of Ford's JLR stewardship. It seems things have now come full circle. BMW currently makes a twin-turbo 4.4 liter V8 that produces anywhere from 440 to 600 horsepower, depending on the application. Automobile says that a new 4.0 liter V8 is in the works and that it will most likely be the engine that JLR uses. Expect it to be more powerful, more fuel efficient, and lighter than what both BMW and JLR currently offer. This seems like a win for both companies. BMW gets to offset the cost of a new motor while JLR, a smaller company, doesn't have to invest in a whole new architecture. As automakers search for ways to cut costs, expect collaborations like this to continue. Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz both share a four-cylinder engine. Ford and GM have worked together to design a shared 10-speed automatic. While we may lament the loss of that wonderful Jaguar Land Rover engine, we can still be happy that they haven't abandoned the V8. Related Video: News Source: Automobile Rumormill BMW Jaguar Land Rover