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BMW joins the early holiday advertising fray with three new ads

October 31 is no longer known as Halloween, or All Saints' Eve or even as that day when all children simultaneously develop huge cavities. It's now known as the day before Christmas/holiday advertising begins. Seriously, as of November 1, it seems like companies across the country and from every industry have declared open season on holiday ad campaigns. It's all premature enough that we're already feeling our inner Grinch showing, but at least some of the ads are better done than others.
Among them are new spots from BMW, which has arrived with this mini-campaign of three 30-second, Christmas-themed spots. There's a cameo from Santa Claus, who's at the helm of a sleek M6 Gran Coupe in one spot, while a 3 Series Gran Coupe slices through a slalom of Christmas trees in another. The final spot, called "Road Home", doesn't focus so much on the brand's "Ultimate Driving Machines," as it does the trip home for the holidays.
We've embedded all three videos below, so take a look and then let us know what you think of this seemingly perpetual holiday marketing calendar creep - and the BMW ads in particular - in Comments.

BMW expects China to pass US as its top market in 2013

When you combine two billion citizens, 100 cities with more than a million inhabitants and an economy that's as unrestrained as Jim Cramer on an Adderall binge, China's explosive auto industry growth shouldn't be a huge surprise. Audi already lists the communist country as its largest market, while Mercedes-Benz is expecting it to be there in the next few years. Now, according to a report from Automotive News, BMW is expecting the People's Republic to overtake the United States in sales by the end of 2013.
We already discovered the extent that BMW is going to in establishing a dedicated Chinese stronghold, when we explored BMW's Shanghai-based DesignWorks studio ahead of April's Shanghai Motor Show. And while we argued that DesignWorks Shanghai hasn't really borne fruit, it isn't due to a lack of sales.
BMW China has seen a 16-percent jump in year-over-year sales, lead by a 28-percent gain in 5 Series sales. Part of BMW's growth strategy comes from an ever-expanding dealership network. Remember those 100 cities we mentioned with over one million people? According to Karsten Engel, CEO of BMW's Chinese operations, those 100-million-plus city dwellers don't have access to a premium dealership.

2015 BMW X6 keeps it weird

Say what you will about the BMW X6 - odd and ugly as it may be, it's actually been sort of successful for the German automaker. BMW has now sold some 250,000 examples of the X6 since its launch, and the company's fastback-crossover-coupe-whatever-thing gets a host of meaningful updates for the 2015 model year while not straying from its original mission.
Aside from its revised styling, most noticeably set apart by its larger, X5-inspired headlamps, the biggest update for the US-spec X6 is the addition of a rear-wheel-drive model, the sDrive35i. This trim joins the all-wheel-drive xDrive35i and xDrive50i, and since you should all be capable of decoding BMW's weird naming structure by now, you know this means the X6 will be offered with a choice of 3.0-liter turbocharged six-cylinder and twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 engines. Fuel economy figures have not been released yet, but BMW says the new powertrains are more efficient than before, mated exclusively to an eight-speed automatic transmission regardless of cylinder count.
Look for the updated X6 to hit US showrooms this fall, following its debut this week in Paris. Expect pricing to be revealed closer to the model's on-sale date. Have a look below for all of the details.