BMW 323i News

A hectic 2007 proved to be lucrative for the car industry with a plethora of new cars launched and more than a million sales throughout the year. And there's no indication that it will be slowing down in 2008.AUDI The new A4, to rival the 3 Series and C-Class is expected here about April, while July will see the hot sports wagon, the RS6 Avant and the A3 Cabrio. Extra A5 variants will follow. BMWBMW has a busy year ahead, starting with the 320d and 335i touring this month. The 1 Series Coupe will go on sale around April, followed by the convertible in May-June. But its big one for the year will be the new X6 Sports Activity Coupe, arriving between July and September. It comes with three engine variants, all twin-turbo, an in-line six, a 3.0-litre diesel and a 300kW 4.4-litre V8. Pricing is expected to start at just under $100,000. And the X5 scores a new engine in February, with the first variable twin turbo diesel offered in the range. CHRYSLER/JEEPJanuary will be a busy month for Chrysler, with the Sebring Cabrio and Grand Voyager people mover both arriving in Australia. The Jeep Cherokee will also get a total makeover. CITROENBased on the C4 Picasso, but bigger and better equipped, Citroen will introduce the Berlingo van between July and September, with a mainly diesel range. This will make room in the line-up for the new Nemo small van mid-year. The C5 will also get a new V6 diesel engine.FERRARIDeliveries of the exquisite F430 Scuderia, priced at about $550,000, will start mid year. Only about 40 will come to Australia and New Zealand. FIAT The reincarnation of the 1960s Bambino will arrive in March, but Fiat has already sold the first four months' supply. The new Fiat 500 will have three engine choices, a 1.2-litre petrol, a 75kW 1.4-litre petrol engine or a 56kW 1.3-litre turbo diesel. Pricing is expected to start from $22,000. The new Ritmo will join the Fiat 500 in March with pricing from $30,000. FORD One of the biggest launches for the year will be the new Falcon. Ford will release details of the new model in February and it's expected to be followed by an unveiling at the Melbourne motor show in the same month, with the official launch around May.FPV FPV will start the year with a new model, the hot turbo Territory, known as the F6 X model. It's the first non-Falcon model from FPV, with 270kW and 550Nm. The FPV Falcon range will also arrive this year. HOLDEN/CADILLACWith Ford's big year planned, you can't expect Holden to keep quiet. But so far, Holden has only announced it is expecting the VE Sportwagon, due in the first half of the year. GM-Holden is also introducing Cadillac with the first model due late in 2008. HONDA Honda will start the year with the new Accord model, due to be launched in February. The small Jazz is also getting an update after the middle of the year. Details on the new generation will be released closer to the launch. The Accord Euro is also expected to arrive later this year. HYUNDAI No big launches just yet, although an upgraded Sonata is expected mid year. JAGUARJaguar's major release for the year will be the new XF in June, with pricing expected to start from $105,000. It will be available in a V6 diesel, as well as a V6 and V8 petrol. KIAPreviewed at the Sydney motor show last year, Kia will launch its new seven-seater Rondo crossover in February. It is expected to start from as low as the mid-$20,000 mark. LEXUSNew for Lexus will be the LX570 around April or May, followed by the IS-F towards the end of the year. Details still to come. MAZDAThe second-generation Mazda6 will go on sale at the end of February with pricing from less than $30,000. It will be powered by a 2.5-litre, four cylinder engine, with 125kW and 226Nm.MERCEDES-BENZThe first arrival for Mercedes-Benz is expected to be the C 63 AMG in mid March. It will be followed by the S 320CDI, priced at $189,874 and the C-Class wagon, which will carry a $3000 premium over the sedan, coming in just under $60,000. MINIAnother new version of a 1960s cult car is also headed our way, with the Mini Clubman launched in February. The modern successor of the Morris Mini Traveller, the Austin Mini Countryman and the Mini Clubman Estate won't get into showrooms until March or April. Pricing will start in the mid-$30,000 area. MITSUBISHIMitsubishi will release two turbocharged Lancers this year. The top-level Lancer Evo X GSR will be here in April and sell for about $58,000. The 2.0-litre four cylinder turbo engine pumps out 200kW and 422Nm. Joining it will be the detuned version in the Ralliart all-wheel drive, at about $40,000. NISSANNissan's first addition for the year will be the all-wheel-drive wagon, the Dualis. Starting at $28,990 and stretching to $35,990, it's powered by a 102kW, 2.0-litre engine. PEUGEOTThe big launch for Peugeot will be the 308 replacing the 307 range, which will start with the 308 hatch in February in both petrol and diesel guises. The touring will follow in June or July, with the 308cc model a prospect for late 2008 or early 2009. PROTONProton has announced the Persona, based on the Gen2 hatch platform, will make its debut at the Melbourne motor show in late February, going on sale in March. It will be priced around the mid-teens. The Gen2 will also get engine updates and minor styling changes. RENAULTThe all-new Laguna will go on sale mid-year with a 2.0-litre diesel engine. SAABJune sees the arrival of the Turbo X AWD. SSANGYONGThe South Korean company will go completely diesel in 2008, with no more petrol engines on offer in Australia. SMARTThe new Fortwo arrives in Australia in February. The one-model brand will get both the 52kW and 62kW models, in hatch and cabrio, being bigger than the current models. SUBARUThe star WRX STi comes in February with a 2.5-litre turbocharged engine, although pricing is still to come. The third generation Forester arrives in March. SUZUKIFebruary's proving to be a busy month, with Suzuki also launching its Grand Vitara diesel. TOYOTAAfter a big year in 2007, Toyota is expecting a quiet year, with only the TRD Hilux due to be launched in April-June. VOLKSWAGENVolkswagen will kick off the year with the SUV, the Touareg R50, to be released in April. It's powered by a 258kW V10 TDI engine. The Tiguan also arrives about October.  VOLVOThe recently launched XC70 arrives in showrooms this month, joined by the C30 diesel also in January. It's priced at $43,950. A base model C30 will also enter the line-up, at $34,450. A 3.0-litre six-cylinder engined V70 will arrive in March. 

In his 15 years at BMW, the Munich car maker's US-born head of design has overseen the creation of some of the industry's most admired and imitated, if controversial, cars.

The Japanese car maker now owns a massive 21.9 per cent of the market, a rise of 0.6 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year.Australia's leading seller has surged to 91,984 sales to the end of May compared with 82,227 for the first five months of last year.Toyota is driving the industry to continued forecasts that more than a million vehicles will be sold for the first time in a calendar year in Australia.The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries has nominated an annualised rate (SAAR) of 1.022 million vehicles for 2007.Chief contributors to Toyota's booming figures are the four-cylinder Camry while the 4 x 2 and 4 x 4 variants of the HiLux have recorded huge jumps along with the Yaris and the introduction of the V6 Aurion.Significantly, since improved supply, the petrol/electric Prius has more than doubled on 2006 figures with 1333 sold to the end of May compared with 625 for the same period last year.Toyota continues to punch above the performance of the total market.“Our aspirations are always to grow bigger than the market,” Toyota Australia chairman Emeritus John Conomos said at the launch recently of the 10th generation Corolla.“No one has ever achieved 25 per cent of the market in modern times before.“It's probably not achievable this year but it's a goal worth setting.”Holden remains in Toyota's shadow. It has increased sales from 60,792 to 61,863 year-on-year, but its market share is down from 15.7 to 14.8 per cent.Ford is a clear number three but has slipped almost 5000 sales year-on-year and has lost 2 per cent market share which now stands at 10.5 per cent.Mitsubishi continues to claw its way back and is moving up on Nissan in a fight for fifth spot.Those models selling well for Mitsubishi have been the Lancer, Outlander, Pajero and the Triton 4 x 4 although the model which the Adelaide maker has staked its future on, the 380, has declined from 5176 to 4641 in year-on-year figures.On the luxury front, BMW recorded its second successive monthly record with 1497 vehicles finding owners, taking its year-to-date tally to 6462.What has been a massive seller for BMW has been the new hardtop 3-series convertible and coupe with combined sales standing at 1170 compared with 313 this time last year.While sales of the X5 Sport Utility Vehicle remain robust and Z4 convertible and coupe sales have grown by a massive 49.4 per cent it is the two-door 3-series models which have allowed BMW to gain significant market momentum.BMW customer deliveries last month were 11.7 per cent higher than May 2006, adding an extra 157 units to last May's record figure.Volkswagen, the only European importer to make the top 10 list, has lifted its year-on-year volume share to 2.6 per cent from 1.9 per cent with sales topping 10,918 to the end of May.

It takes a quantum mind shift to accept a station wagon as a lifestyle accessory rather than life's grim necessity — a symbol, indeed, that your life is essentially over. Never mind that such a vehicle is just what you require to cart about the fruits of your loins, it's difficult to project an aura of virility or availability in what is essentially an advertisement for prophylactics. Or so it was with wagons. It helps that they're now known by all manner of marketing euphemisms: sportwagon, touring, estate, avant. Anything other than "station wagon", with its attendant images of suburban suffocation. With this grim mantle having been inherited by the SUV, wagons in the entry-level prestige segment are becoming perilously close to fashionable. The newest executive iterations from Europe and Japan are as departed from the Falcodore hacks given to fleet and taxi drivers as a Bally loafer is from a Blundstone boot. Moreover, they're often more pleasing to the eye than their sedan siblings. One such is the recently released BMW 3 Series Touring. The late, lamented E46 3 Series range also had but one Touring model: an automatic whose old 2.2-litre engine behaved more like a four-cylinder than one of Bimmer's brilliant inline sixes. Its E90 successor — for which the lapsed 323i designation has been revived — gets a choice of six-speed auto or manual (which no one will buy) transmissions and a detuned version of the 2.5 straight six from the 325i sedan. Detuned, in fact, from all of 160kW/250Nm to a distinctly four-ish figure of 130kW and 230Nm. It hasn't been so much neutered as urbanised, but if you forked over $71,500 (for the auto, $2600 off for the manual no one's going to buy) you'd be entitled to feel aggrieved. Reaching 100km/h in a claimed nine seconds — with the kilometre coming up in 29.7 — the auto Touring is respectable rather than rapid. And you'll need to make use of the ZF gearbox's sport mode to approximate those times — the Touring's 1500kg is never more in evidence than when getting off the mark in Drive. More significantly, this heft doesn't cause garment-rending at the petrol pump — both the claimed open-road and urban-consumption figures of 6.9 and 13.2 litres per 100km are, if anything, slightly pessimistic. The Touring has all the 3Series's inherent handling excellence, with BMW's trademark near-50/50 weight distribution coupled with rear-wheel drive. It can be both a benign daily drive and an incisive handler, able to deal with any sharp manoeuvre this side of sanity (enhanced by the Dynamic Stability Control and a vast array of electronic safety aids) while feeling exceptionally planted. It's a BMW — so one expects no less. Even ride quality on the 323i's standard-issue run-flat tyres is better than tolerable on 16- inch rubber. Bigger wheels are one item on the typically long and expensive options list that you needn't tick. Touring ownership is, of course, about facility, and this the 323i has. The tailgate, for example, splits so access can be had by way of the glass pane without the "effort" of opening the whole thing. Nice. So too are the provisions for secure oddment storage, not least beneath the floor — where, in most comparable cars, resides a full-size spare. Not sure if those cubbyholes are included in the total luggage space figure of 1385 litres (with rear seats folded), but it's such a comfort to know there's room in the boot for another few bots, what? Standard kit is comparable with that in the 320i Executive sedan. It includes leather trim, retractable centre armrests in both front and rear (quite good, these), storage nets on the backs of the front seats and an anti-dazzle rear-view mirror. The near roof-length sunroof, which brightens the lot of rear-seat travellers (but diminishes the driver's head space) adds $2900. Dip further into the optionals, let alone the $5200 MSports kit, and you're looking at an easy $80K on the road. Whether or not you consider such a sum just a bit silly depends entirely on the store you set by the fabled blue-and-white roundel. Some other prestige wagons offer much more equipment and performance for a lot less money, but none of them boast that badge. So if 3 Series ownership isn't purely a matter of dollars and cents, the stylish, practical Touring makes at least a degree of sense. See the picture gallery above for a wider view of the market.

1. What is the state of the Australia luxury-car market at the moment?"It is stable on a high level, but it's a competitive market. "We expect to be traveling on the same level as last year on a full- year basis, and we are confident we can grow the BMW Group business.2. How does BMW rate globally?"On a worldwide scale, if you take away South Africa where there a very special regulations and BMW is an assembler, we have the highest market share in the world."We have 29.2 per cent of the luxury sector in Australia, and in Germany the figure is 27.4 per cent and the worldwide number is 19.9 per cent."3. Why is BMW doing so well in Australia?"Australians like our products and we have a very strong brand here. "We have other things which are particularly appealing to potential owners, like guaranteed future values for our cars. We are the only manufacturer to do that across the range. It shows the confidence we have because we know the situation with BMW residuall values."Others will follow us, because they do, but we are the first. That is especially appealing to luxury users, as they have the option to hand the car back at the end of their lease term."This program is fitted to the Australian market, but we have other things and there is also a good demand here for the BMW four-wheel drives with the X5 and X3."4. How has BMW been tracking in Australia over recent years?"Since 1999 we have grown by 79 per cent and, although we usually don't talk about our competitors, that is more than anyone else and gives us a lead of 20 per cent over the same time last year. "That includes the 4x4s but not the commercial vehicles sold by one of our competitors. It's passenger cars and four-wheel drives."If you look at other manufacturers there is one other brand which is doing well but coming from a low base, yet we outsold them 3:1 in 1999 and now we outsold them 3.3:1 in 2005."5. Looking forward, what can we expect in 2006 and 2007?"We are now expanding our range on the diesel front, and we will have the 120d and 320d in the second quarter of this year. There will also be the 323i Touring in the second quarter, and later in the year a new 3 Series coupe. Also the 323i sedan."We have now the revised Z4 including the M Roadster, and of course we have the Z4 coupe coming in the secnd half of the year and the M coupe version which will be very exciting."2007 is still quite a way down the track, so we will have a few renewals."In the 1 Series we are far away from having exploited the market potential and we will have a few very nice things that will fit perfectly in Australia. But that will be 2007."Also, a little bit down the track we will have . . . a sporty version of the X5. It is in the design stage and, from what we have seen, it will be a stunning success."6. You are also responsible for Mini as part of the BMW Group. How far away is the replacement car?"The new model Mini will be in the market in Australia next year. "In that life cycle it will also have several more variants that will also come to Australia and they will help to substantially grow Mini in the market. It was originally a one-model vehicle but will grow to a full product family."