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BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer is a minivan by any other name

The Ultimate Driving Mini Minivan? Too early to say, considering that we've not yet driven it and so we don't know if it's the ultimate anything. But the BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer definitely slots into place as a small MPV in the European market, hence the mini minivan designation, though it doesn't have sliding doors. We don't have any indication that this 2 Series variant will come to the United States, in case you were wondering. With the option of a third row, this seven-passenger, front-wheel-drive (or optionally, all-wheel-drive) machine from BMW is sure to ruffle a few enthusiast feathers, but it also has the potential to be a big seller for the German brand. Available with a range of three- and four-cylinder engines offering between 116 and 192 horsepower, the 2 Series Gran Tourer packs a lot of space into a very small platform. It may not be the prettiest vehicle to wear the Roundel, but it may be the most practical. See it for yourself from every angle in our high-res gallery of live images above, and feel free to read more in the press release below. The new BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer. 11.02.2015 With the new BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer, BMW has carved out yet another new vehicle segment. With its generous space, versatility and groundbreaking flexibility, the BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer is the world's first premium compact model to offer up to seven seats and fully meet the mobility requirements of young families. Compact yet capacious. Despite its compact dimensions – measuring just 4,556 millimetres long, 1,800 mm wide and 1,608 mm high – the new BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer offers ample space and a generous luggage compartment that can be extended in capacity from 645 to 805 litres. With the rear-seat backrests folded down, this rises to an impressive 1,905 litres of load space. Ensuring maximum variability is the standard-fitted fore-aft sliding rear seat bench – with a 40:20:40-split backrest that folds down at the press of a button – which allows three child seats to be fitted. Extending the possibilities even further is an optional third row of seats which can be completely lowered into the loading floor. Maximising the vehicle's everyday practicality is a range of storage options for all three rows of seats, as well as rails on the front-seat backrests with fold-out tables attached.

Mini Vision Next 100 concept invokes an alternate universe

Sir Alec Issigonis, designer of the 1959 Mini, would probably find Mini's new Vision Next 100 concept amusing. The original Mini was largely an exercise in efficient packaging and clever engineering. That it was handsome, and became iconic, was more a product of its wild success than an intentional product of its exterior styling. While the Mini concept is undoubtedly cleverly packaged, it's almost purely a styling exercise, no matter what sort of futuristic connected/autonomous functionality Mini says it'll have. Mini doesn't seem able to move past the Mini as a caricature of itself. The heavy, floating roof, the vestigial round and friendly "headlamps", the oversized gauge pod. This seems very German, the inability to communicate essential brand attributes without using cliches. Mini is in a styling rut, trying to evolve the same basic styling language with each new generation, stretching it over larger hard points. The Vision Next 100 program would have been a great time to communicate to the public that Mini is more than just styling tropes: it's an attitude, a way of thinking, a connectedness to the driver. More than a badge or bug-eyed headlights. To its credit, the interior is massively decluttered. That's in part to the rear-engine layout, but more on that in a follow-up piece. The comparatively vast footwell and ultra-minimalist dash pair well with the giant windscreen. It feels light, airy, and authentic to the ideals of the originally Mini in terms of space efficiency, without being overly sentimental. Futurism is a thankless profession, and we can't take this concept literally as a vision of what the brand will be in 100 years. We can say this: it doesn't seem that Mini will be able to transcend the styling tropes that currently define Mini. Let's hope they find a way out of their rut. Related Video: Featured Gallery Mini Vision Next 100 Concept View 38 Photos Design/Style BMW MINI Coupe Hatchback Concept Cars Future Vehicles vision next 100

BMW Motorrad showcases Konzept eRR electric sport bike

At one end of the BMW spectrum are its electric vehicles like the i3 and i8. At the other, the motorcycles from BMW Motorrad. Now the Bavarian manufacturer is bringing those two areas of competence together in one vehicle. And it only has two weels. It's called the eRR, and it's an experimental electric motorcycle created in conjunction with the Technical University of Munich. It's based on the frame of the S 1000 RR sport bike, but ditches the 199-horsepower four-cylinder liter engine for an all-electric powertrain. Unfortunately, the company has yet to release any technical details, but promises it will do so at a later date. It's not the first time BMW Motorrad has tinkered with electric power. We've already seen the C Evolution electric scooter. But this is the first time it has packaged an electric motor into a sport bike this aggressive. If BMW were actually to build this thing, the eRR could prove a suitable foil to the Brammo/Victory Empulse, not to mention any other electric motorcycle that may find its way onto market in the coming years. BMW Motorrad presents the experimental vehicle eRR. Supersport dynamism and zero emission thanks to electric power. Munich. BMW Motorrad has a long tradition in pointing out new ways and thoughts for the topic „mobility on two wheels". For that, again and again many studies were presented in the past giving views to the future. The experimental vehicle eRR, created as a project with the Technical University of Munich, embodies an idea of an electric powered supersport motorcycle made by BMW Motorrad. Already a couple of years ago, BMW i showed the BMW Group's visionary and sustainable approach with the vehicles BMW i3 and i8 and their revolutionary design principles (aluminum chassis and passenger cabin made from carbon fibre) and BMW Motorrad's C evolution proved, that zero emission, riding fun and practicability do not exclude themselves. With presenting the experimental vehicle eRR BMW Motorrad goes one step forward and shows the possibilities of an all-electric drive in a supersport motorcycle. Regarding design and chassis technology the eRR leans on the supersport motorcycle S 1000 RR, however using an all-electric drive. Stephan Schaller, Head of BMW Motorrad, emphasizes: „Since their market launch, the RR is giving the creeps to motorsport athletes. If acceleration, handling or topspeed – the RR is setting standards.