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BMW bringing special Horse Edition 7 Series to Beijing

The Beijing Motor Show is just a couple of weeks away, and BMW wouldn't miss out on the opportunity to show off its latest wares to one of its most vital markets. So when the doors open in Beijing, BMW will showcase the new 2 Series Active Tourer, 2 Series Coupe, M3 and M4, 4 Series Gran Coupe and X4. It will also introduce the i3 and i8 to China for the first time. But those are all models we've seen already. What's new is... wait for it... the 7 Series Horse Edition.
Not celebrating horses so much as the Year of the Horse, this special edition 7 Series is based on the long-wheelbase model and comes with all manner of M equipment packages, a special paint job from BMW Individual and unique touches inside and out. BMW isn't saying which engine it features, but it sells the series in China in 730Li, 740Li, 750Li, 760Li and ActiveHybrid forms, with rear- or all-wheel drive. Given that the one pictured is wearing an xDrive badge, it would have to be either the 740Li or 750Li, but buyers will presumably be able to order it in whichever spec they desire.
While it may not be as exciting as the 9 Series concept BMW is rumored to have lined up for the Beijing show as well, you can bet that the Bavarian automaker will find plenty of buyers for this extra-special, extra-Chinese, extra-equestrian luxury sedan, and command a healthy premium from each and every one of them.

6 luxury car brands to watch in 2024

2023 was a healthy year for the auto industry, and even with incentives returning and dealer lots filling up, there's plenty to like about the market if you build luxury automobiles, and we expect 2024 to be more of the same, which makes luxury-segment rivalries all the more interesting. Top luxury car brand rivalries? Well, that sounds downright uncivilized. But we know better, don't we? And when every quarterly sales update is an opportunity to remind somebody else that they bought the wrong status symbol, well, who can resist? Certainly not the diehard customers who fly their favorite brands' banners high.  Read more: Auto sales: Industry records best year since 2019 Read more: 2023 auto sales and 2024 preview: Ford Bronco vs. Jeep Wrangler This is a tricky segment to define, but essentially, we're looking at luxury car brands with depth to their portfolios and dealerships that exist to attract real-world customers. The Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and McLarens of the world are luxury cars, certainly, but we're more concerned with brands that have a bit more mass appeal — manufacturers who treat supply constraints as fiascos rather than features. If you disagree with our selections, feel free to let us know in the comments.  And since we're mostly concerned with finishing order, the luxury brands and totals featured here may change as new data come in throughout 2024. Due to the wild swings of the past several years, we're treating 2023 as the baseline by which we'll measure sales performance. And rather than rank brands vs. their finishing order in 2022, when supply-chain and inflationary issues still played havoc with sales figures, we're starting 2024 off with a clean slate.  The mainstream luxury segment is always a dogfight, but with their varied approaches to electrification all of the major luxury brands are in the midst of reshaping the premium landscape. Who is doing it right? Well, according to U.S. shoppers, the usual suspects are up to their old tricks.

Watch the trailer for Locke, a movie that takes place entirely in BMW's X5

It's no surprise that driving can be incredibly stressful. You're basically trapped in a metal box, and until fairly recently, your ability to communicate with the outside world beyond the toot of a horn or a rolled-down window was all but nonexistent. Locke, a new film starring actor Tom Hardy (best known for his role as Bane in the Batman movie Dark Knight Rises), capitalizes on that feeling of isolation and stress by setting the entire movie in a BMW X5.
Locke is written and directed by Steven Knight, author of Eastern Promises, and the trailer shows Hardy's character being put under increasingly intense emotional stress as he drives along in his Bimmer. We don't know much more than that, as the 90-second trailer really doesn't give away much.
The film premiered at last year's Venice Film Festival, and reviews are available that tell more about the story, but we don't believe in spoilers. It's poised to hit theaters in the UK on April 18 and the US on April 25. The trailer reminds us of a far more artistic take on Steven Spielberg's 1971 movie, Duel and has our interest piqued. Scroll down to watch the trailer, but consider yourself warned, there's a brief moment of profanity.