BMW 520i News

The car industry’s push towards autonomous cars has been put on show at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

BMW's new seventh-generation 5 Series sedan won't hit our shores until March 2017, but the local model line-up's pricing and specification has been announced.

Porsche has just released the sixth model in its line-up -- the Macan compact SUV -- but is already well progressed with secret plans to add yet another model to its range.The German sports-car maker appears to not be content with having posted all-time record sales last year and has even bigger visions for the future.The boss of Porsche, Matthias Muller, has indicated he would like a seventh model in the company's line-up. "If you include the super-sportscar (the 918) we have six models in our line-up," Mr Muller told journalists from China, Australia and New Zealand attending the launch of the Macan SUV in Leipzig, Germany."I think a seven-model series would be a good line up because most cars have a seven-year lifecycle," he said. "If we had seven models we could have a major event each year, as well as the (special edition) variants." Mr Muller would not say what type of car would become the seventh model.Recent speculation has centred on a two-door version of the Panamera, a mid-engined Ferrari 458 rival (to bridge the price gap between the 911 and the 918) and a budget-priced sports-car to slot in below the Boxster.However, according to Porsche insiders, the seventh model is most likely to be a mid-size sedan that would be a rival to the BMW 5 Series, and sit below the Panamera in price.The Porsche sedan would be available with rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive just like the Panamera, say company insiders, who claim it would help give Porsche economies of scale by sharing some of its components with the Macan.The mid-size Porsche sedan is said to be built off Audi's second-generation MLB (modularen langsbau) architecture, which is a development of what is already underneath the Porsche Macan.Meanwhile, Porsche says the Macan is "exactly the right vehicle at the right time" even though it has only planned to build 50,000 this year. Last year Porsche sold 75,000 Cayennes -- but the compact luxury SUV market in which the Macan competes is much larger."This year the luxury compact SUV segment will reach a total volume of 1.3 million units," said Mr Muller, adding that the category had seen a staggering 185 per cent growth in sales since 2007.Over the next 10 years, sales of luxury compact SUVs are set to exceed the 1.8 million mark, he said. "Porsche will broaden its customer base," said Mr Muller, "and most will be first-time Porsche buyers."He said Porsche had just posted a record 162,000 sales in 2013 and was on track to eclipse the 200,000 mark for the first time this year. About one-third of all Porsches are sold in China, one-third are sold in North America, and one-fifth in Europe.But Mr Muller says Porsche will continue to be a premium brand because sales growth will come from emerging markets."Porsche still only represents 0.25 per cent of cars on the road, or two to three out of every 1000 cars," said Mr Muller. "A high degree of exclusivity is assured for our brand. (But) we are going to grow profitably."This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

Information is good, but domination is bad. So I like big digital speedometers, blind-spot warning systems and reversing cameras, but I'm against automatic parking, radar cruise controls and anything which can influence the steering.My personal jury is still out on automatic emergency braking, but I think it's probably going to get a tick. The reason for this reluctance runs all the way back to the very first cars I drove with anti-skid braking systems, a BMW 5 Series and a Honda Accord.I can clearly remember the wheels of the Accord chattering and skidding as I tried a panic stop, but the Five was worse. I was driving on a gravel road when I needed to brake for a corner.I did, but the car did not, and I can clearly picture to this day the tree I narrowly missed as I arrowed off the road with the ABS system working - or not - precisely as the engineers intended.Hitting the personal fast-forward button, there was a Lexus that insisted on applying emergency braking power when another driver cut into my lane and cut the beam for the over-sensitive radar cruise control, a Camry that cut engine power just when I needed it in a corner, and a Volkswagen that refused to accelerate from a Stop sign because I was holding the car on the brake at the same time as tickling the throttle.Just last year, there was a Mercedes-Benz that swerved me into the path of an oncoming car when it detected that I had drifted over the white line, when in fact I was easing gently away from a potential head-on smash.I know that technology improves and I like some of the stuff that makes life easier, but I was overwhelmed this week by the all-new Volkswagen Golf and a bank of safety equipment that runs from a fatigue monitor to radar cruise control, automatic wipers and lights, automatic parking and even multi-collision braking to stop the car after a crash.A lot of this stuff is good, and there's no doubt that it should make our roads safer. But it's also encouraging a breed of drivers who are really just passengers, relying on their cars to save them from themselves. And that cannot be good.This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover 

The 5 Series picks up the new front on a mild mid-life facelift next year, but there are no details - yet - of any other changes. 

Heaney described the car as "stunning metallic brown with matching chrome, and her allow shoes sparkling". Very poetic. But his partner at the time told him not to touch the car as it'd be too expensive to run."I did the opposite and I bought her anyway," he says."I was looking for an old Benz or something European. I'm an interior designer; that's why I like cars with classical lines. It has a beautiful shape with a shark nose at the front and a short back. They were designed by hand back then and these days they are designed by computer, I think."Heaney bought the car in 1992 for $7500 and has insured it for $10,000."But I'm thinking of getting it insured for more because they are becoming really rare," he says."These models are like hen's teeth; the model that every one has forgotten. It was a daily driver for a while, but then I realised it was rare when I did some research, so I decided to keep the mileage down. It's done 200,000km. They are significant as they were the first 528s to begin the very successful 528 models today."The E12 began in 1972 as a four-cylinder model replacing the 1500/200 series. It was known as the "new class of cars" targeting the American market. They arrived in Australia in 1974 in small numbers."They only started becoming popular in the 1980s. In the '70s they just brought it in to test the waters so there are not many around at all."Heaney calls his BMW Bernadette after a 1980s movie the name of which he can't recall. It features an evil Chrysler called Bernadette."The guy called his car Bernadette and he was in love with it, so I thought Bernadette the Bee-Em sounded good," he says.Bernadette had a small role in the Underbelly TV series."I'm on the cars commercial register and they were looking for cars made in the '70s," he says. "It's in the same condition it was back then, so they chose it, but they cut the scene and you can just see a little bit of it in one of the shows."In 2003, Heaney returned from a six-month overseas trip and picked up Bernadette who had been in the care of family members."But she was not exercised," he says."While driving merrily down the freeway with the music on and a bright sunny day, windows down, I heard a noise. I looked at the bonnet and saw steam coming from all directions."Bernadette coughed and spluttered to a terminal halt."Everybody said it's too expensive to get fixed and she's old, parts are hard etc, etc."But just like when he bought the car against his partner's advise, Heaney had it fixed and reckons it's now good for another 200,000km and another 29 years.BMW 528Year: 1975Price New: $15,000Price Now: $10,000 (insured)Engine: 2.8L, 6 cylinder, double-barrel carburettorBody: E12 four-door sedanTransmission: ZF three-speed auto.