2008 Bmw X3 3.0si Sport Utility 4-door 3.0l M-sport Package on 2040-cars

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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.

New Forza 6 car pack adds 1,000 hp German race truck

Today, Forza Motorsport 6 continues its pattern of monthly updates with seven new cars in the Turn 10 Select Car Pack. The diverse group of cars spans nearly 60 years of motoring history with a combination three street and four track cars from Germany, Italy, the UK, and the UK. Turn 10 Studios will also release an update that brings back Monza, Catalunya, and the Circuit of the Americas tracks. The seven vehicles in the pack are the 1957 BMW Isetta 300 Export, the 1969 Ford Brawner Hawk III, the 1980 Fiat 124 Sport Spider, the 2014 Jaguar #14 Emil Frey GT3 Jaguar XK, the 2014 Chevrolet #4 ROAL Motorsport RML Cruze TC1 WTCC, the 2015 Mercedes-Benz #24 Tankpool24 Racing Truck, and the 2015 McLaren 570S Coupe. The BMW, Fiat, and McLaren all represent iconic vehicles for their respective brands. While the BMW may not be fast and the McLaren is the baby of the brand, their importance can't be overstated. It also can't be a coincidence that Fiat is releasing an all-new 124 Spider, now based on the Mazda MX-5 Miata, just as Forza is adding in a version of the original. The racecars share a similar iconic nature. The Ford Brawner Hawk III won the 1969 Indianapolis 500 with Mario Andretti at the wheel. The team behind the GT3 XK has ties with Jaguar going back decades. The Chevrolet Cruze is one of the most successful cars in the history of the World Touring Car Championship. Finally, the Mercedes-Benz racing truck was added because the developers saw them in real life and thought racing these big trucks would be cool. The car pack is available to for $7 total, or players can purchase each car individually. Related video: Related Gallery Forza 6 Car Pack Toys/Games BMW Fiat Mercedes-Benz forza car pack

Will global automakers drop local JV partners if China's government says they can?

Chinese economic policies could be in for a big change, as President Xi Jinping pushes the communist country to open its domestic markets even further. That could mean big things for the auto industry, especially when it comes to the country's far-reaching joint-venture system.
According to Chinese law, foreign automakers may only maintain a fifty-fifty partnership with their domestic counterparts. But with Jinping's push for openness leading to potential free-trade deals, that policy could be relaxed (or eradicated all together) in short order. What's an automaker to do?
Well, in BMW's case, stay the course. Automotive News Europe reports that, despite the grumblings about the JV policy changes, the German manufacturer has resigned its agreement with Brilliance through 2028. This is made doubly remarkable by the fact that BMW signed the extension over three years before it was set to expire.