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More details emerge on hotter BMW i8S coming next year

The BMW i8 recently won the Autoblog Technology of the Year award, and it's going to get even better. In October, Automobile magazine reported that BMW's i brand is working on an i8S that would be stiffer and more powerful, and celebrate the marque's centenary in 2016. At the time, one of two power unit combinations was suggested, either one of them good for more than 500 horsepower. Car magazine has added more info on the coupe said to be called Project M100, saying that in addition to being a birthday gift for BMW, it will also be a going-away statement to current chairman Norbert Reithofer, who is expected to retire in 2016 or 2017. It will also be so thoroughly reworked that there will be plenty of daylight between it and the standard i8: a more integrated carbon fiber and aluminum chassis, a wider range of materials used in the build, a larger luggage bay due to the omission of rear seats, a more aggressive suspension supporting heartier brakes and wider tires, and - perhaps - a different aero and ground-effects package to be visually different and make the most of the alterations. As for that power unit, Car says that the two options mentioned by Automobile are still under consideration, being either a 2.0-liter twin-turbo four-cylinder with 320 horsepower and a 204-hp electric motor, or a 3.0-liter straight six with 480 hp and an electric motor with 109 hp. Either choice gets an integrated starter motor good for another 27 hp, and a total torque number of roughly 520 pound-feet, 100 additional lb-ft than the current car. Word is that it will be shown for the centenary in 2016 then go on sale by the end of 2017.

BMW's Connected Drive feature vulnerable to hackers

BMW is working to fix a cyber-security flaw that has left 2.2 million vehicles worldwide vulnerable to hackers. Cars equipped with the automaker's Connected Drive remote-services system are affected, according to the German Automobile Association (ADAC), which first discovered the problem. Researchers found they could lock and unlock car doors by mimicking mobile communications and sending phony signals to a SIM card installed in affected vehicles. An attack could be launched "within minutes" of accessing the system without the perpetrators leaving a trace, according to their report, in part because once they had gained access to the network, the communications were not secure. In response to the security gap, BMW says it has been upgrading software via over-the-air updates over the past week, so no visits to dealerships are needed to remedy the security hole. In fact, owners of affected cars may not have even noticed the updates taking place. The problem affects BMW, Rolls-Royce and MINI vehicles equipped with Connected Drive since 2010. Flaws were first reported to BMW last year by ADAC, which is the country's equivalent of AAA. ADAC says it withheld a public announcement until the car company could address the problem. While BMW has pushed the software patch to most affected vehicles, the organization said it's possible some at cars in the United States had not yet been updated. BMW did not respond to a request for comment Monday. In a written statement, the automaker said it knows of no real-world breaches. 2015 Off To Dubious Start The hack could raise the eyebrows of industry leaders: Cars are now the equivalent of mobile computers and cyber-security experts have been warning that the auto industry has been slow to close its security holes. BMW's breach marks the second time in 2015 that researchers have found a popular automotive feature with little or no security precautions. Last month, experts said a popular device made by Progressive Insurance that allows motorists to track their driving habits contained no security whatsoever. Like the Connected Drive smart-phone app, many automotive components and infotainment features were conceived and produced at a time when industry executives never considered the possibility someone might want to hack into them. But increased connectivity brings increased risk. Going forward, BMW says its Connected Drive features will now operate by using encrypted communications via the HTTPS protocol.

M-fographic breaks down the history of BMW performance machinery

Few characters carry the kind of clout among performance enthusiasts as the letter M. For 35 years now, that one letter has adorned over 300,000 BMWs, each tuned to deliver a higher degree of performance than the stock models on which they're based.
The M division has worked up nearly 100 different models over the past third of a century, which can leave even the most expert among Bimmer fanatics bewildered. Fortunately British auto loan service Carfinance247 has commissioned this handy infographic to make sense of it all, and you can check it out below to see what the letter M really stands for.