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BMW Zagato Coupe This is the BMW Zagato Coupe, a collaboration between BMW and Italian styling house Zagato, marrying Italian design flair together with German engineering, thanks to the friendship between BMW and Zagato’s designers Adrian van Hooydonk and Norihiko Harada. Sounds perfect, no? It’s based on the E89 BMW Z4 Roadster, but with a fixed roof. Perhaps this is the Coupe body that this current generation Z4 never had, as the E89 Z4 is offered only with a folding metal top. Other than the Z on the fender, Zagato also puts its mark on the kidney grille – this is one part of the car that I don’t really get. Instead of typical vertical slats, Zagato had kidney grille designed as an alphanet soup mesh of little interlocked Zs, said to be inspired by American designer/architect Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes. That gorgeous red paint is called Rosso Vivace, and to get it to look how it looks, BMW started off with a black base coat, on top of which a metalli...

First official pictures of the BMW i8 Spyder concept have been released, ahead of the car's debut at the Beijing Motor Show later this month.  Like the i8 coupe, the Spyder is a plug-in hybrid using a 1.5-litre petrol engine with 220bhp to power the rear wheels and a 129bhp electric motor to drive the fronts. Expect to see a 0-62mph time of around five seconds.  Aside from the lack of a roof, the i8 Spyder does boast a few visual differences to the coupe concept, including solid metal doors and roll-over hoops.  There are a few technical changes too, such as a shorter wheelbase and overall length than the coupe. The hard top's back seats have also been ditched.  The LifeDrive construction – which consists of a carbon fibre body and mainly aluminium chassis – ensures weight is kept to around 1,600kgs, despite the heavy batteries on board.  When it makes production in 2014, BMW claims the i8 Spyder will return fuel economy...

The sixth-generation BMW 3 Series was revealed to the media this morning at the Mines Convention Centre. Codenamed F30, the latest compact sports sedan from Munich is available in three variants here – 335i, 328i and 320d. The two petrol powered units can be had in ‘Luxury’ or ‘Sport’ trim lines. ‘Modern’ is not offered here, and the 320d gets no such choice, appearing quite basic in spec compared to its petrol siblings. The trim lines are being introduced for the first time in the F30, which made its market debut in Europe just last month – good job to BMW Group Malaysia for introducing it so soon after! Sport and Luxury trims feature different lower front bumper designs and 18-inch wheel designs, among other details. The Sport Line car’s kidney grille, window frame and and tailpipe trim are finished in gloss black, as opposed to chrome for Luxury. There’s also a small badge on the fenders that spells out the trim. The red car you see here is obviously the Sport. Inside, Sport Lin...

It's good to see that BMW brings the all-new 2012 BMW 3-Series into Malaysia just after a month it was launched in Europe. The all-new 3-Series is said to be grown by size, giving more space for the rather cramped rear space found in older generation of the 3-Series. The increase of size is not obvious, but it benefits the rear passenger as well as boot space. The red car you see above is the Sport line, while the car at the bottom is Luxury line. Too bad Modern line is unavailable in our market. This time around the 3-Series will be available in 335i, 328i and 320d. The 335i is powered by a TwinPower Turbo 3.0L inline-six with 306hp and 400Nm of torque, enabling the 335i to travel 0-100 km/h in just 5.5 seconds.Other than that, the 328i’s 2.0L four-cylinder, twin-scroll turbo engine churns out 245hp and 350Nm of torque, and travels from 0-100km/h in 6.1 seconds.  The 320d has 184hp and 380Nm of torque, where 0-100 km/h in 7.6 seconds is possible. Gre...

BMW M6 2012 BMW has released first official pictures of the M6 Coupe and Convertible. Both cars are fitted with a 552bhp 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8. The engine and seven-speed double-clutch gearbox are lifted straight from the M5 saloon. They fire the lighter M6 Coupe from 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds – two-tenths faster than the M5 and on par with the XKR-S – and from 0-124mph (200kph) in 12.6 seconds. The Convertible takes 4.3 and 13.1 seconds. Thanks to the addition of direct-injection, turbocharging and stop-start, the Coupe and Convertible claim a huge 30 per cent improvement in efficiency over the old 5.0-litre V10 M6. BMW says they return 28.5mpg and 27.4mpg respectively. The 6 Series’ styling is beefed up with a lower and more angular bodykit, flared wheelarches and optional 20-inch alloys. Four tailpipes poke out either side of the rear diffuser, and M-branded gills double up as indicators. The Coupe has a unique, stepped, carbon fibre...

The new BMW M6 has finally been launched, and both Coupe and Convertible models have been revealed at the same time. An M6 model has not been launched for the 4-door GranCoupe. In the case of the M6 Convertible, it means for the first time the full aural glory of the new turbo M engine can be experienced in a drop top car. No surprise with what provides the M Power in this car – it’s the twin-turbocharged 4.4 liter M TwinPower Turbo motor in the F10 M5, making 560 horsepower beginning from 6,000 and sustained across to 7,000rpm, and a peak torque of 680Nm from 1,500rpm, with a max engine speed of 7,200rpm. This is 10% higher horsepower and 30% higher torque than the previous V10-powered M6. For those who have a thing for figures – 560 horses and 680Nm with a DIN kerb weight of 1,850kg takes the M6 Coupe up to 100kmh in just 4.2 seconds, while the heavier Convertible at 1,980kg does the century spring in 4.3 seconds. This is with the quick shifting 7-speed M Double Clutch Transmissi...

The electric maxi-scooter concept rode onto BMW’s main presentation stage along with the Husqvarna E-go youth-oriented electric motorcycle concept. The two-wheeled concept models are not close to becoming production models; they were there mainly to help set the stage for BMW’s i3 and i8 electric car concept models which also debuted in Frankfurt. BMW did re-affirm it will introduce two premium maxi-scooters by the end of the year but both will be powered by two-cylinder combustion engines. Back to the Concept e, BMW says its designers sought to create a vehicle that looked clean and efficient yet agile. The front uses the same “split-face” design found on other BMW models such as the R1200GS and S1000RR. The front panel/leg shield is shaped like a boomerang, suggesting an aerodynamic look. BMW was light on the technical details however. BMW’s i cars use over 60 volts of electricity, enough for BMW to claim the Concept e offers similar acce...