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BMW sees shortage of crossovers in the United States

BMW of North America CEO Ludwig Willisch is anxious to get the Bavarian brand's $1-billion upgrade at the Spartanburg, SC, factory done because the automaker can't keep up with demand for its crossovers. The expansion should boost total capacity there to 450,000 units a year and support production of the upcoming X7. Still, Willisch would love to have more crossovers as soon as possible. "That is a constant battle now, to get more X3s and X5s," he said in an interview about the company's future in North America to Automotive News. If they the supply were available, Willisch predicts he could sell at least another 10,000 of the CUVs. Willisch sees getting the X7 on the market as a big win for the brand, too. "We were able to convince the company that this is exactly what we need in the United States," he said to Automotive News. However, there is a bit of a wait. The model rides on BMW's next-gen platform, and is at least two years away from challenging the Land Rover Range Rover and Mercedes-Benz's renamed GLS-Class (previously the GL-Class). The fullsize CUV reportedly shares development with Rolls-Royce and might offer the best interior of any model bearing the blue and white roundel. The boss also talked about other future product plans for this continent. For example, Willisch reiterated BMW will not bring the 2 Series hatchbacks here, citing a lack of a market for them. There will be plenty more plug-in hybrids available at dealers, though. Due to "legal requirements" and popularity, Willlisch says PHEV versions will be offered throughout the lineup by 2017. Although, the i sub-brand will stick with the i3 and i8 through that time.

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.

2016 BMW X5 M is big and bold, not beautiful

Awesome as it is, the BMW X5 M has never really been an attractive machine. Big and bulgy are the themes here, and that's only more pronounced with the X5's most recent refresh. But no matter, the X5 M has never been about looks - for this machine, it's all about performance, and BMW's hi-po crossover absolutely delivers in this regard.
Under the hood is the familiar 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V8, though power has been boosted to 567 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque - healthy increases of 12 and 53, respectively, compared to the outgoing model. Hitting 60 miles per hour is said to take just four seconds, which is damn impressive considering this thing weighs well over 5,000 pounds.
But the X5 M has always been shockingly good to drive, with limits you'll never reach except in the most hardcore track scenarios (which we'd really like to see, by the way). It's not the prettiest thing ever, but that's okay. It's not exactly cheap, though, with prices starting at $99,650. Woof.