2009 Bmw Z4 on 2040-cars

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BMW brings first diesel 7 Series to US with $82,500* 740Ld xDrive

After almost 40 years on the market, there are probably few things the BMW 7 Series hasn't offered, but when it comes to the US market, one of those things just happens to be a diesel engine. That is all about to change, however, as BMW announced that it will unveil the 2014 740Ld xDrive at the Chicago Auto Show before sales commence later in the spring.
Offered only on long-wheelbase models with standard all-wheel drive, the new diesel 7 is powered by BMW's 3.0-liter inline-six producing 255 horsepower and a stout 413 pound-feet of torque peaking between 1,500 and 3,000 rpm. While BMW has yet to release any type of fuel economy figures, it did say that its diesel technology is usually good for an improvement of 25 to 30 percent over the gas models - just for fun, that means that the 740 Ld xDrive could get as much as 24.7 miles per gallon in the city and 36.4 mpg on the highway, but that's just doing the math and there is nothing official behind those numbers. Acceleration will take a little longer than in the 740Li xDrive (shown above) with BMW stating 6.1 seconds from 0-60 compared to 5.4 seconds for the gas model.
Another small increase over the gas version will be in price, with the 740Ld xDrive getting a starting MSRP of $82,500 (*not including $925 for destination), which is just a $1,500 bump over the 740Li xDrive. For comparison, the Audi A8L TDI starts at $78,800, while the previous-gen Mercedes S350 Bluetec was priced at $93,000. Scroll down for more info on the new diesel-powered 7 Series, and stay tuned to our live coverage from Chicago in a couple weeks as we'll have live images and hopefully more info.

Recharge Wrap-up: EVSR returns to Mt. Washington, China Mulls $16 Billion For EV Charging

Foxconn and electric carmaker BAIC are partnering to provide an electric car rental service in China. Slated to kick off next month in Beijing, Hangzhou and Jiangsu province, the company, called Henyu, will offer the EV rentals by the hour. Henyu hopes to offer 5,000, to 10,000 electric rental cars within a year, and wants to become the largest EV rental group in China. The company will also deploy BAIC's E150EV to ten cities for rental outside of Beijing. Read more at Want China Times. Hoping to convince more people to make the switch to electric cars, China is considering investing $16 billion to install charging facilities. Anonymous sources have said that an announcement about the program will be made soon. China has already announced and implemented various measures, such as incentives and tax breaks, to encourage more people to drive emissions free and improve urban air quality. China aims to have 30 percent of its government vehicle purchases be EVs by 2016, with higher targets after that. There's more from Bloomberg. BMW is launching a campaign to highlight technology features from the i8 to be used in other BMW vehicles. Called BMW Innovations, the program will include television ads showing how the i8's full-color heads-up display, LED headlight technology and Surround View Camera System are making their way into cars such as the 3 Series, 5 Series and X3, respectively. BMW Innovations also includes digital and social media campaigns, as well as hands-on technology presentations at dealerships. See the new ads below, and learn more in the press release. EVSR is set to return to Mt. Washington for the Alternate Energy Summit. It is the team's first time back since EVSR set the electric vehicle record at the Climb to the Clouds hill climb earlier this year. EVSR will run the cars up the hill again, and it will hold a workshop about electric racing, called "Redefining Motorsports - A How-To Guide for Creating a Revolution in Speed." The Alternative Energy Summit takes place on September 13 and 14 as part of National Drive Electric Week, and is free to the public. Read more in the press release, below. BMW Debuts BMW Innovations Campaign Showcasing Key Technology Features. Woodcliff Lake, NJ – August 27, 2014... BMW of North America will introduce a new campaign, BMW Innovations, which will highlight how the range of BMW vehicles share several key technology features with the visionary BMW i8, a plug-in hybrid high-performance vehicle.

Jalopnik and Consumer Reports see who can pull off the best snow drift

The weather throughout much of the United States is pretty awful at the moment with some combination of extremely low temperatures, inches of snow and maybe some ice underneath it all. The folks at Jalopnik and Consumer Reports are making the absolute best out of a difficult situation by heading to CR's snow-covered test track and attempting to make the longest drift in a quartet of very different performance vehicles. Jalopnik brought along a Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Wagon, a Subaru WRX STI, a BMW 228i and a 1973 Volkswagen Baja Bug (heck yeah!) for the challenge. Also, the track was perfect for this group, with a mix of packed snow in places and still a few inches of unsullied powder in spots too. Ostensibly the goal was to get the tail to step out through a particular corner, but in reality this was more about having hilarious fun in the snow with fast cars. The result just looks like the best time humanly possible in this weather.