Tag: BMW

2023 BMW M 1000 R M Competition Review

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Rennie Scaysbrook | October 11, 2023

The BMW M 1000 R M Package is about as close as you can get to a WorldSBK racer with high handlebars.

2023 BMW M 1000 R M Competition right side
The serenity of the beach hides the sheer madness the BMW exudes.

Photography by Ryan Nitzen

Before we dive in, let’s have a look at a few key specs for the 2023 BMW M 1000 R M Competition.

You’ve got a S 1000 RR superbike 999cc ShiftCam inline four-cylinder motor pumping 205 horsepower and 83 lb-ft of torque. Marzocchi electronic suspension. M-spec four-piston radially mounted calipers. Carbon-fiber wheels and bodywork. And wings. Don’t forget the wings.

At no point do any of the aforementioned specs make for what I would describe as a “good street bike.” They do, however, make for a street bike that is damn close to anything I would describe as a full-on race bike—yes, race bikes can have a single-piece handlebar.

I’m lucky to have ridden pretty much all the super-nakeds around, including the immense Ducati Streetfighter V4 S in Spain earlier this year, but there’s something about the uber-technical BMW that tickles me just right.

Perhaps it’s because I can remember the first time I rode an S 1000 RR in 2010, the memory of which will never leave. Such was my astonishment at what BMW had just created. The S 1000 R a few years later was similarly spectacular but didn’t quite have the razor-edge performance I was hoping for. In the M 1000 R, jazzed up to M Competition spec, I have no such worries.

2023 BMW M 1000 R M Competition cornering
Aim the BMW at a corner and hold on. It carves lines with the agility of a 600.

The $26,945 M 1000 R M Competition—a $4995 premium over the base M 1000 R—is packed to the gills with every form of BMW electronics wizardry they can muster, which goes a way to controlling such an unruly beast. You get five modes Rain, Road, Dynamic and Race, plus Race Pro, which also gets three levels of throttle response and engine-braking parameters. It’s incredibly easy to get lost in the electronic maze that is the M’s dash, and I’ll admit even in the time I had it in my garage, I never got close to mastering it.

This is an inherent problem with so many options at your fingertips, but I suspect if you were to buy an M, they’d be the least of your concerns. After all, you’ve got 16-level traction control, cornering ABS, engine brake, wheelie control, launch and cruise control, Dynamic Brake Control, lap timer, hill-hold control, and a pit-lane speed limiter (why?) to play with.

But enough of the electronics. What’s it like to ride? I think you can guess, but I’ll tell you anyway.

2023 BMW M 1000 R M Competition carbon-fiber wheel
Carbon-fiber wheels, yes, please!

 

2023 BMW M 1000 R M Competition front wheel
The Marzocchi fork, matched to BMW’s Dynamic Damping Control algorithm, makes for a soft ride in Road mode and stiff as a race bike in Race Pro mode.

At low rpm around the Orange County streets, it’s a pussycat.

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How BMW will revamp its retail network for digital age

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Where by do you see the most significant issues at the start out of the company product?

When we launch at Mini on Jan. 1, 2024, Mini will be totally prepared. Mini is not a guinea pig for anything that we could then do better at BMW two years later. All matters regarded as, we are presently very far along in terms of IT advancement and the new structures. From our stage of look at, nonetheless, it still makes additional sense to start off with Mini and then convert the BMW brand. Which is why we’re taking our time, so that we can then go into the start-up phase in levels.

Will all countries commence at the exact time on Jan. 1, 2024?

There will be a few waves. Germany’s transform will come in the 1st fifty percent of the calendar year. I can not say now how points will be at BMW in 2026.

Would the company also be conceivable for the U.S. in the potential?

No, unquestionably not. That would not be suitable with the normal conditions in the U.S.

Your competitor Audi, like other brand names in the Volkswagen Team, to begin with will only promote its electrical vehicles with an company model. Why are you carrying out points in different ways?

I believe it is particularly crucial to only introduce an agency design with the entire auto portfolio. Just about anything else will not get the job done in my view, due to the fact you then begin competing inside of your personal product range.

What do you mean?

If we introduce an company product for our electric autos only and a customer arrives to 1 of our dealerships since he/she wishes to get an i4, then below these types of an method it could occur that he/she leaves the dealership with a 4-sequence coupe. What I am stating is that we do not want our clients to be pushed in any way at the dealership just mainly because the dealership has yet another auto in stock. That is why I assume these types of a move is fundamentally improper. There will be no this sort of separation with us.

Is this a lesson learned from the agency design for your electrified automobiles that you released in 2013 and dropped by 2018?

The product labored properly in alone for the i3 and i8. In truth, the rationale we folded it again in in any case was mainly because of the opposition with the typical income technique. At BMW, the customer and his or her requires are in the foreground, not what the vendor at this time has on offer. The changeover now impacts the whole brand. That is unique. And that is why it will function.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares desires to reduce distribution costs at his models by 40 % by 2030. Do you also see opportunity price savings in the company model?

For us, the company product is not a expense-slicing plan. Of study

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CATL to create $7.6B Hungary battery plant to offer Mercedes, BMW

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SHANGHAI — China’s CATL options to build a 7.3 billion euro ($7.6 billion) battery plant in Hungary, as the world’s major electrical motor vehicle battery maker gears up to fulfill escalating demand from customers from world wide automakers.

CATL mentioned that construction of the 100 GWh (gigawatt hrs) plant in the jap Hungarian metropolis of Debrecen, its most significant abroad expenditure, would start off this calendar year just after obtaining approvals, and must final no additional than 64 months.

Once created, it is established to be Europe’s greatest battery mobile plant and CATL’s next in the region immediately after 1 in Germany, building battery cells and modules for carmakers which includes Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Stellantis and Volkswagen.

The expansion comes as European automakers accelerate a changeover to electrical vehicles in their property marketplaces, prompting surging need for batteries from nearby suppliers and creating a operate on offer deals to steer clear of creation bottlenecks.

VW, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla have all announced or commenced to put into practice important battery expansion options in Europe to protected access to important cells and uncooked resources and assist their electrification techniques.

CATL’s expenditure will mark “a large leap in CATL’s international enlargement,” the company’s founder and chairman Zeng Yuqun mentioned in a statement on Friday.

The Chinese business is also urgent in advance with strategies for battery production in North The united states by 2026 for clients together with Ford Motor, Reuters claimed previously, despite tensions concerning Beijing and Washington.

The Hungary financial investment is also crucial for the japanese European country, which is becoming a important hub for electric powered motor vehicles and batteries in Europe.

Debrecen is household to a plant currently being constructed by BMW, when Volkswagen’s Audi brand has a manufacturing facility in western Hungary’s Gyor and Mercedes operates one in Kecskemet, in the central portion of the country.

BMW declined to remark but said it plans to launch some battery linked facts in early September. VW and Stellantis did not straight away answer to requests for remark.

Mercedes explained in a independent statement it would be the 1st associate to obtain battery cells from CATL’s Hungarian plant, and tha its purchase marked the greatest preliminary get quantity for the web-site.

“This new state-of-the artwork European CATL plant in Hungary is one more milestone for the scale-up of our EV production collectively with our vital companions,” Mercedes-Benz management board member Markus Schaefer mentioned.

CATL formerly stated it would start out giving cylindrical cells to BMW from 2025 for its new sequence of electric powered autos.

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Stellantis will buy car or truck-sharing business from BMW, Mercedes

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Brigitte Courtehoux, who heads Stellantis’ mobility division Absolutely free2shift, stated the offer was part of the group’s designs to mature web revenue from that enterprise to 700 million euros ($735 million) in 2025 and to 2.8 billion euros in 2030, up from 40 million euros very last year.

“We will really speed up in terms of profits,” she reported.

Stellantis will improve its mobility division Free of charge2shift by way of the offer, hoping a worldwide thrust to slice emissions will also push desire for auto-sharing and open up new financial gain streams.

Over the subsequent 10 years, Stellantis intends to grow Free2move’s presence throughout the world, escalating it to 15 million lively consumers.

The targets arrive a minor a lot more than a 12 months given that the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group to variety a sprawling company of 14 brands with nameplates these kinds of as Jeep, Peugeot and Fiat to insert scale in the EV and autonomous driving shift.

The sale marks a different stage in reshaping mobility offerings for BMW and Mercedes, which combined their respective expert services in 2018 to just take on providers like Uber Systems and conserve expenses.

The German automakers’ conclusion to ditch the automobile-sharing provider underscores the problems faced in creating this sort of offerings financially rewarding without the need of the requisite scale.

BMW and Mercedes started out vehicle-sharing in 2011 and 2008, respectively, as a way to get young buyers to attempt their brand names and maintain up with switching mobility desires in metropolitan areas.

Share Now is the European market place leader and has included more time expression rental options beyond employing vehicles by the minute with support from a smartphone app. But it has struggled to change a profit.

Superior chance at results

Stellantis, with its broad presence in North The us by way of its Chrysler and Jeep makes, could have much better odds for motor vehicle-sharing accomplishment. It will progressively replace the BMW and Mercedes automobiles in its fleet with types from Stellantis’ brands, the company said.

Courtehoux mentioned Stellantis will aim to have solely electrified fleets in Europe by 2030 and the U.S. by 2035.

Whilst the providers didn’t disclose the price, Juergen Pieper, an analyst at Bankhaus Metzler, said it would most likely be underneath 500 million euros ($525 million), and most likely about 250 million euros.

Italian day-to-day la Repubblica said the offer was well worth about 100 million euros.

Pieper estimates Share Now has missing about 200 million euros per year. “It’s possible Stellantis, with its minimal economical investment decision and a leaner price tag composition, can make additional out of it,” Pieper claimed.

Share Now retreated from North The united states in 2019 in response to large servicing charges and what the firms then explained as the “risky point out of the international mobility landscape.”

By selling the division, BMW and Mercedes will target on the two remaining areas of their mobility cooperation: Cost-free Now, an application that

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Tesla, BMW shutdowns in China drag on microchips pile up as lockdowns carry on

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Electric-motor vehicle pioneer Tesla on Tuesday told some suppliers and employees that its Shanghai manufacturing unit — which has been shuttered considering the fact that the town went into a phased lockdown on March 28 — will continue to be shut at the very least as a result of Thursday, according to people today acquainted with the make a difference, who questioned not to be recognized for the reason that the data is not public.

Next a different a two-day shutdown in March, Tesla has now misplaced 12 days of creation in recent months, including this week’s holiday. The to start with Gigafactory outside Tesla’s house country manufactured half of its autos very last yr, and builds autos not just for the worthwhile Chinese current market, but for export to Europe and in other places in Asia.

A spokesperson for Tesla China did not promptly react to a ask for for remark.

Employees at banks and fund administration firms that had been called back to function prior to the lockdown commenced keep on being caught in their offices.

Just one fund supervisor mentioned he and colleagues plugged up a floor drain on concern it could facilitate viral distribute right after a couple people today on the level earlier mentioned tested positive but ended up delayed transferring into a quarantine facility, obligatory for all Covid instances in China irrespective of severity.

Personnel are fearful about an outbreak rising, and when the firm has been attempting to occur up with a remedy it’s a challenging issue to resolve, said the individual, who questioned not to be named talking about private firm issues.

Some corporations, like chip giants Taiwan Semiconductor Production Co. and SMIC, as properly as Apple iphone assembler Pegatron Corp. have been in a position to maintain plants running by utilizing a so-identified as closed loop program where staff dwell on-site and are tested routinely. For the likes of SMIC, a new headache is emerging: securing the vans they will need to have to get their chips to clients. A agent for SMIC declined to comment on logistics.

South Korean firms are also being impacted, with operations at the Shanghai plants of noodle maker Nongshim Co., confectionery maker Orion Corp. and cosmetics producer Amorepacific Corp. suspended considering the fact that early this month. The companies all advised Bloomberg News that they have been following recommendations from nearby authorities and really do not know when they can reopen.

Singapore’s Spindex Industries Ltd., which provides precision factors employed by the car business, has extended the closure of its Shanghai plant until eventually April 10 or anytime nearby authorities permit operate to resume. The uncertainty over the extension of the lockdown is envisioned to have a detrimental impact on the company’s money efficiency, it reported in an exchange submitting.

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BMW scarcely squeaked previous challenger Tesla in 2021 U.S. luxury registrations

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Tesla‘s large product sales surge in the latest months produced the EV maker glimpse like a absolutely sure bet to overtake BMW to grow to be the luxury section chief for 2021.

But in accordance to freshly unveiled U.S. car or truck registration data from Experian, BMW managed to hold on to its crown for the year. Tesla came in at No. 2, in advance of Lexus and Mercedes-Benz.

Tesla will have a further shot to dethrone legacy rivals for the top place this calendar year, as a new manufacturing facility in Texas boosts generation of the well-liked Design Y crossover, Tesla’s bestselling model.

Experian reported in a report this 7 days that BMW had 347,453 new cars registered in the U.S. in 2021, although Tesla had 342,412 — a variation of just 5,041 automobiles.

It has been a heated race.

Tesla registrations surged 71 per cent more than 2020, whilst BMW’s grew 24 % yr more than 12 months, in accordance to Experian. These figures counsel that Tesla has important momentum going into 2022, despite the fact that semiconductor shortages will very likely play an critical role in the luxury motor vehicle race.

The 2021 registration details has been intently viewed for the reason that Tesla does not split out U.S. product sales from its international shipping figures.

Business analysts seem to point out-by-state registration quantities for clues about wherever the EV leader sits when compared with its rivals. Globally, Tesla income rose 87 % past calendar year to 936,172 from its factories in California and China, the automaker stated.

But gross sales and registration quantities don’t keep track of flawlessly for a wide variety of good reasons. Motor vehicles marketed in just one month can be registered in one more, and some registration details may perhaps involve estimates when specific numbers are unavailable, analysts said. Some market estimates set Tesla gross sales better than BMW for 2021.

“When the numbers are close, it is really hard to declare a winner when you usually are not usually comparing apples to apples,” explained Jessica Caldwell, government director of insights at Edmunds. Registration details is often helpful when examining quantities not built public by automakers, this sort of as fleet income, she reported.

BMW’s individual sales details place deliveries last year at 336,644. Lexus stated it offered 304,475 autos, and Mercedes noted official deliveries of 276,102.

In the end, producer revenue info is the official report, Caldwell reported, since of the guesswork that goes into calculating Tesla’s quantities.

For instance, a 2021 gross sales estimate from Cox Automotive gave Tesla the edge over BMW with 352,471 U.S. deliveries.

“Tesla did not only dominate the EV market, Tesla dominated the in general luxury market place, outselling Audi, BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz in the U.S.,” Cox stated last month.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has believed that the company’s world wide revenue will increase by at minimum 50 per cent this yr as factories in Berlin and Austin, Texas, arrive on line in

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