BMW Faqs

BMW and Fiat stated this week that they are looking into joining together and creating platforms and components for their Alfa Romeo and Mini divisions. If agreed upon BMW will sign the contract - which will outline their cooperation with the Italian company.

BMW’s product development director Friedrich Eichiner and Fiat’s power train technologies unit Alfredo Altavilla will be the ones in charge and the ones to sign the contract. They will make their decision by the end of the year if not earlier.

European automakers are finding that it might be more affordable for them to build their vehicles in the U.S. BMW is one of these automakers who is considering expanding its operations in the U.S. by spending close to $1 billion. They will have planned to use this money to increase the capacity to its South Carolina and add more distribution center and also to expand its headquarters in New Jersey.

The majority of the money, about $750M, will be spent on increasing production at its plant South Carolina plant from 160,000 units to 240,000 by 2012. The move makes abundant sense given the fact that the German automaker is taking a massive hit by shipping vehicles from higher cost Europe to the lower cost U.S.

BMW’s new M6 Hurricane is getting the same treatment as the M5 – which means that it will be given the same G-power 5.0 liter V10 engine that makes it such a great ride. The new engine has been set for a low 6 psi compared to the 10 psi in the M5 – but it still has the ability to produce 635 bhp at 7300 rpm.