BMW X3 News

Although the car has some links with the first-generation car, the newcomer borrows visual cues from the latest X models, gains more useable interior space and enhanced performance with a new range of engines. BMW Australia spokesman, Piers Scott, says the newcomer is expected to arrive into local showrooms early next year.  Initially two engines will be available at launch in Europe, a 135kW 2.0-litre turbo-diesel and 225kW 3.0-litre petrol six, both adopting BMW's "efficient dynamics'' principles. However, Scott believes that once the car arrives here, more engine variants will be available.  "But are really not in a position to confirm which variants they will be,'' he says.  However, the company does plan other turbo-diesel and petrol engines and a hybrid version, which could also make it to Australia if right-hand drive hybrids are available. Apart from new engines, some higher performance models will get a new eight-speed automatic.  Like BMW's sedan range, the new off-roader will get auto stop/start for the first time in conjunction with the six-cylinder engine as well as the eight-speed auto. BMW's xDrive four-wheel drive technology is standard across the range with a "performance control'' function available.  The car gets newly conceived suspension technology, electric power steering and for the first time in an X model, variable sports steering, which will be optional in some markets. It will also be the first X model with optional damper control and dynamic drive control.  The all-wheel drive splits torque 40:60 front-to-rear thanks to an electronically controlled multi-disc diff and a host of other techno features. The MacPherson front struts have been redeveloped along with the multi-link rear suspension, while an optional electronic damping control adapts to the road and driver inputs. Normal, Sport and Sport-Plus modes are mounted next to the gear selector. The Sport controls sharpen throttle response, transmission shifts, steering assist, DSC settings and suspension firmness. The "performance control'' feature shuffles 80 per cent of the torque to the rear under steady acceleration.  Inside the cabin gets new materials and added versatility with a 40/20/40-split rear seat. With the seats folded, the maximum luggage capacity is 1600 litres.  A range of BMW ConnectedDrive options will be available, including head-up display, internet access, reversing camera with top view. Follow the Carsguide blog on Twitter  

"Obviously, if a hybrid was available in right-hand drive we would look at it," BMW Australia spokesman, Piers Scott says. The company currently builds 'active hybrid' versions of the X6 and 7 Series but they are only available in left-hand drive. Eventually an X3 hybrid is tipped to join the petrol and turbo-diesel models in some markets. Other details are emerging about BMW's newest X-factor car. The company is drip-feeding photos and some specifications of the new X3 ahead of its launch at the Paris Motor Show in September. Although wearing psychedelic black and white camouflage, the distinctive styling of the current car has mellowed into a smoother shape that is slightly bigger than the current car. The second-generation X3 is slightly bigger in every respect than the current car, which translates into more interior and luggage room. BMW has listened to customers too and lifted the quality of interior materials around the cabin. Scott says the lifestyle off-roader is expected to hit local BMW showrooms around next February. "Certainly in the first quarter of next year," he says. Although specifications are yet to be confirmed for Australia, it is likely to be available initially with a range of turbo-diesel and high-powered petrol six cylinder engines. Unlike the X1, the X3 will have standard four-wheel drive mated to a new ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. All X3s get BMW's Xdrive all-wheel drive system, which directs torque variably to the front wheels through an electronically controlled multiplate clutch. BMW also plans to shift production from the Magna-Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, to its Spartanburg plant in South Carolina, which also builds the X5 as well as X6 petrol and hybrid models.

The next version – caught on camera by Carparazzi in the US – will look little different from the current model, but gains a little more size, and a bolder grille set off by wraparound headlight clusters. Now facing fresh challenges from the Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60, the BMW X3 has reportedly also been given an upgraded cabin treatment, and it’s rumoured that it will also have the twin-turbo petrol engine from the 335i and the 2-litre turbodiesel, while there is also talk of a hybrid version.BMW spokesman Tim James says it’s likely to be here by the end of next year, but there is no confirmation yet of the new engines.  “As far as we know, the timing is for it to arrive in 2011,” James says.“It may not be likely we’ll get the 335i engine here, where there’s a strong appetite for diesels, but it’s too early to say yet … it will be considered.  “The volume seller for us is the turbodiesel xDrive 20d.”James says BMW is confident the X3 will continue its success, which saw sales rise after the Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60 arrived and stirred up fresh interest in the market.  “The last two years of the X3’s lifecycle have been its most successful so far – we did 140-150 month last year and we’d expect that to continue or improve,” he says.

The X1 lands in Australia next year and will be fresh and new, unlike the larger X3 which has at least two more years before its next major overhaul.  Carparazzi caught the new X3 at the Nurburgring during recent tests and, despite a complete overhaul, the car looks much like the current model.The new X3 will have almost the same dimensions, although its styling will be shaped — Carparazzi says — to reflect some of BMW's work on the CS concept. That means a more prominent grille plus new wraparound headlights.BMW is concentrating on lifting cabin quality in the X3 to combat the gains made by the Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60 which went on sale this year, as well as the Mercedes-Benz GLK which is still being promised for Australia — sometime.The other change for the X3 is that production will be moved to the USA, where it will be built alongside the X5 and X6 models at BMW's factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina.Mechanically, the biggest news is expected to be a twin-turbo engine taken from the 335i model, as well as a 2-litre turbodiesel and — like the larger X-cars — a hybrid model.

Within three years, production-line workers will build cars with names they can't pronounce.It's nothing new but when the Russians start pumping out Mitsubishis and Peugeots and Citroens, it is another step in the process that sees car makers move out of their backyard and onto foreign soil.The reasons are cheap.Picking a developing country with available employment, low yet aspiring standards of living and government incentives such as free land and tax breaks is the financial equivalent of a Stephanie Rice wall poster.And there's no reason to feel shy about deserting the homeland in search of reduced manufacturing costs even if Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking is scathing of the practice — though the Cayenne body is made in Slovakia — and says so in his new (only) book “Don't Follow The Crowd”.Look around.You probably know it because you're on the carsguide.com.au site, but most car owners haven't a clue where their metallic ego in the driveway was born.The Honda Accord and Jazz are from Thailand, the Volkswagen Caddy in Poland, the Suzuki APU (named after the 24-hour shop owner in The Simpsons?) van in Indonesia, the Chrysler Grand Cherokee in Austria — on the same line as the BMW X3, no less — the Volvo XC70 in Belgium and the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus hatch and BMW 3-Series four-cylinder models in South Africa.As these countries grow richer on their ability to make cars cheaper for the world, so their prices — of labour and taxes and energy — will rise.Are there any countries left that have even lower costs that car makers can exploit? While you sift through the Atlas (get a current one, some countries and borders have changed in the past decade) let me tell you about one that has it all.And only recently is word out that this could be the next big think in car manufacture.Unlike Russia or Thailand or Slovakia, this country has English as its predominant language.It has an able workforce and rising unemployment.Its needs are many because the country has high consumer goods consumption.Yet the workforce — perhaps through desperation — can be turned to receive a modest wage.There are tax breaks and land going on offer throughout the country, most close to the ocean or rivers for easy transportation of raw materials and finished product.The icing on the cake is that it has existing infrastructure to support car assembly.The country is the USA.Now the focus turns from outward looking to the manufacturing equivalent of navel gazing.Now European countries have seen a weakened USA become ripe for domestic manufacture.The US dollar is so weak that it makes importing European cars too expensive.Far better to look at camping on US soil, in the way a cuckoo camps in another nest to exploit its personal needs.While General Motors seeks manufacturing in China, Volkswagen is looking at the USA.Volkswagen is not alone, European suppliers are also sniffing out what the USA can offer.The tide has unexpectedly changed and perhaps the only hindrance will be a revival in the US economy.Preoccupied with the 'war with no end' in the Middle East, the US is poised to become the world's next big car factory.Who would have thought that possible?

The explosive growth of the BMW model range is about to be defused in Australia, with the line-up being trimmed to cut competition and duplication, making it easier for customers in showrooms.The plan is to have only three choices of any individual model, with two petrol engines and one diesel.The current list includes 36 individual models in the 3 Series sedan line-up ... without counting the coupe, convertible or station wagon.“We get a lot of questions about whetherwe have too many models,” BMW Australia managing director Guenther Seemann says.“I think we do have too many.”He believes BMW must cut the choices to streamline business, though he says there will still be all-new models in future — with the X6 four-wheel-drive and M3 sedan up next — asthe German company looks for customers.The work has begun, though there are a dozen individual BMW lines, from the baby 1 Series to the four-wheel-drive X5 and flagship 7 Series, with 50 official engine choices. BMW has 189 individual models on the list.“We've already begun tidying up. The 116i hatch has been removed from the range, there are the manuals in the 3 Series and one of the X3 manuals,” Seemann says.“In the 5 Series range, one of the V8s will go.I believe for each and every model line-up in the future, as we add models, we need two petrol and one diesel variant in each case. No more. We have so many different model lines, it is not practical or possible to display them all in a showroom.”He says it will take time to get things sorted, partly because there are so many models.“It will happen in the next two years. Globally, there are five petrol and five diesel engine choices. And that is just in the 3 Series range,” Seemann says. But there is definitely space for some additions, like the four-door M3 sedan.“We will bring the four-door version, but I do not know at what price. We have to price it lower than the M3 two-door.” 

The explosive growth of the BMW model range is about to be defused in Australia. The line-up is being trimmed to cut competition and duplication, making it easier for customers in showrooms.The plan is to have only three choices of any individual model, with two petrol engines and one diesel. The current list includes 36 individual models in the 3 Series sedan line-up . . . without counting the coupe, convertible or station wagon.“We get a lot of questions about whether we have too many models. I think we do have too many,” BMW Australia managing director Guenther Seemann says.He believes BMW must cut the choices to streamline business, though he says there will still be all-new models in future — with the X6 four-wheel drive and M3 sedan up next — as the German company looks for customers.The work has begun, though there are a dozen individual BMW lines, from the baby 1 Series to the four-wheel-drive X5 and flagship 7-Series, with 50 official engine choices. BMW has 189 individual models on the list.“We've already begun tidying up. The 116i hatch has been removed from the range, there are the manuals in the 3 Series and one of the X3 manuals,” Seeman says.“In the 5 Series range, one of the V8s will go. I believe for each and every model line-up in the future, as we add models, we need two petrol and one diesel variant in each case. No more. We have so many different model lines, it is not practical or possible to display them all in a showroom.He says it will take time to get things sorted, partly because there are so many models.“It will happen in the next two years. Globally, there are five petrol and five diesel engine choices. And that is just in the 3 Series range,” he says.But there is definitely space for some additions, like the four-door M3 sedan.“We are starting the business case. It looks good, I must say,” he says.“We will bring the four-door version, but I do not know at what price. We always follow the normal BMW pattern, where a two-door is more expensive than a four-door. We have to price it lower than the M3 two-door.” 

Its latest bonny baby, the compact four-wheel-drive GLK, is heading our way.But when the pre-shrunk version of the M-Class gets here, probably late in 2010, it will be missing one vital ingredient - all-wheel drive.Benz has confirmed the Daimler-developed GLK compact will initially be sold here as a rear-wheel drive.An all-wheel-drive version won't hit our market until the second-generation model, now under development, is released. It is also tipped to feature a hybrid diesel/electric power train.By then Benz will have sorted out an oversight in the GLK's design.The right-hand-drive versions can't be fitted with all-wheel traction because there is no room for the system without making costly engineering changes.The GLK wasn't on the radar for Australia because it was designed for left-hand-drive markets.That left Benz without a contender in the booming Australian SUV market to fight BMW's X3, Audi's Q5, VW's Tiguan and the Volvo XC60.Now it appears Benz has had a change of heart after reviewing a business case study put up by Britain and Australia. When it does arrive, there will be a choice of 3.5-litre V6 petrol or a 2.2-litre diesel with 400Nm of torque on tap.Meanwhile, Australians are being denied one of the more potent models in the Benz coupe line-up - the 4Matic version of the stunning C-Class CL500.It's the first time the all-wheel-drive system has been fitted to a luxury coupe and would have fitted the Australian market well, but it is also not made in right-hand drive.The lightweight 4Matic system splits drive between front and rear wheels through a planetary gear centre differential, which also has a twin-plate clutch to allow some variance in torque between axles. 

Germany had previously said the baby four-wheel-drive, which is a size down from the M-Class and pitched directly into battle against BMW's X3 and the upcoming Audi A7, would not be produced in right-hand-drive, ruling it out for local showrooms.But now the man who heads research and development at Daimler has raised hopes that it could, after all, make it here. Dr Thomas Weber, at the opening of the Detroit motor show, gave a hint there is a small chance the decision will be reversed in time for Australian customers to get the car, which the company is showing publicly for the first time.“So far, its not finally decided,” Weber says. “The focus is on the left-hand-drive market. I know there are some discussions in all the other markets. We will see.”The GLK was launched in Detroit in two versions — the urban-focused Townside and the more adventurous Freeside — with an economical and eco-friendly turbocharged 125kW Bluetec common-rail direct injection diesel four-cylinder with 4Matic all-wheel-drive system.GLK is Daimler's response to the global boom in compact softroaders and Mercedes-Benz knows the GLK must become an important contender in a segment which reaches as far down as the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V at the bottom end.“We are a huge player in the SUV segment,” Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche says. “Now, with the GLK, we have a model for it.“It's an important part of our growth strategy. We see huge potential in Europe, in the US and also in other parts of the world.”However, the right-hand-drive markets would likely have to commit to considerable volume to get a decision in their favour.“Really important will be what is the volume behind it,” Weber says.“It costs a lot of money.“And so we need volume. It takes some action to make a left-hand-drive AWD vehicle right-hand-drive.”Still, he concedes the importance of having the GLK for all countries.Mercedes wants lift overall sales to fight BMW and Audi on all fronts.GLK might also be a launchpad for the upcoming hybrid models.“But, of course, we need all these technology packages also for markets with right-hand systems,” Weber says. “The next question is what will be possible later on with hybrids.The good news for Australia is that it would be relatively easy and fast to prepare a right-hand drive model.“No real technical issues. Again, it's a question of volume behind it and what are the costs,” Weber says.“But all the countries with right-hand-drive at the moment, they are building up a team to discuss this issue: how can we handle this for the future, what the question for the engineering is, how fast in the future can we come with right-hand-drive cars to the market?” 

It's the sort of odd-couple relationship that really shouldn't work ... but does. North America's eternal fascination with giant trucks and muscle machines continues