RECENT ARTICLES
BMW CCA National Capital Chapter Supports Relief Efforts for Hurricanes Helene and Milton
In October 2024, Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck the southeastern United States with devastating force, causing widespread destruction across multiple states, from Florida to North Carolina. The damage was particularly severe in the mountainous areas of Western North Carolina, where entire communities were either destroyed or severely impacted by...
First Neue Klasse Test Vehicles Complete Production at BMW Group Plant Debrecen
BMW Group Plant Debrecen in Hungary is shifting into first gear: Production of test vehicles is ramping up and the first near-series fully-electric X models for the Neue Klasse are now leaving the production line.* This marks the beginning of the final preparation phase for the start of series...
Automotive Logistics: BMW’s Sustainable Packaging – When Cardboard is Worth More Than Gold
In the automotive industry, it’s not just about propulsion and driving dynamics. Sometimes, it’s the subtle things that make a difference – especially when it comes to sustainability. Here’s the story of a cardboard box that goes on a world tour. BMW’s PAL973 reimagines automotive logistics in the light...
CarScoops: ’26 BMW iX3 Neue Klasse Patent Drawings Leaked
The upcoming launch of the new iX3 represents a pivotal moment for BMW. Not only will this all-electric SUV distinguish itself from the internal combustion engine X3, but it will also serve as the first production model to utilize the much-anticipated Neue Klasse platform and design philosophy. While the big...
First Phase of Wackersdorf Battery Testing Center Goes Live
In 2023, the BMW Group announced plans to build a new battery testing center at the Wackersdorf location. Now, the initial phase has come on-stream as planned. Scheduled for completion in late 2025, the site, which spans over 8,000 square meters, will rigorously test individual battery cells, complete high-voltage...
New MINI Cooper Convertible Rolls off MINI Plant Oxford Line
MINI Plant Oxford celebrates the start of production of the MINI Cooper Convertible for the first time since 2015. The model joins the MINI Cooper 3-Door and MINI Cooper 5-Door, making MINI Plant Oxford the home of the MINI Cooper family. Announced last month, the fourth generation MINI Cooper...
Francesco Bagnaia Wins BMW M Award in MotoGP 2024
The winner of the 2024 BMW M Award in MotoGP™ is Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia. The Italian triumphed in a thrilling head-to-head against Spain’s Jorge Martín, with the decision coming down to the season’s final qualifying session at Barcelona. This is Bagnaia’s third consecutive BMW M Award win. His prize...
It’s Brits Versus Germans at the House
Having owned over 70 BMWs and currently possessing nine, I don’t think I need to prove my blue-and-white cred to anyone. I’ve told and retold my origin story of a 2002-owning Hampshire College student who lived with us for a summer in Amherst when I was in junior high...
BMW Teams Testing At Daytona
BMW teams Paul Miller Racing and BMW M Team RLL both participated in an official IMSA-sanctioned test held at Daytona International Speedway this past weekend. The test drew a total of 31 cars, which allowed teams to try out new updates to their cars and new drivers and give...
BMWs On Podium In Macau
It seems like an unlikely place to race, but racing has been going on in the streets of Macau for the last sixty years. In recent years, a highlight has been the GT3 race, which draws some of the best sports car racing teams and drivers in the world....
Celebration of X – Anniversary Weekend a Success
BMW News, Community, Events, Featured, Lifestyle
This past weekend, the X Chapter descended upon greater Greer, SC, to celebrate 25 years of the X5. Launched in 1999 with the E53, BMW made a careful decision to refer to the X5 as a “Sports Activity Vehicle” (SAV) to avoid association with an off-road truck. And that...
The Electrical Troubleshooting Issue I Need to Remind Myself to Check For
I’m pretty handy with a multimeter. I should be. After all, I spent 15 months working at Bentley Publishers, writing an automotive electrical book for them. I would’ve sworn I wrote several “How to use a multimeter” articles for BMW CCA, but I can’t find them. The pieces I...
46M East. Twelve Friends + Six Years = One Hundred E46 M3s
BMW News, Community, Events, Lifestyle
Inspired by what the SIGFest has done for twenty-five years and continues to do for the E30 M3 owners’ community, a group of E46 M3 owners scattered across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York first gathered at a scenic spot along the Palisades Interstate Parkway near Alpine, New Jersey, in...
BMW Group Plant Leipzig Begins Production of New BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe
BMW Group Plant Leipzig has been undergoing comprehensive expansion since 2018 and can now manufacture up to 350,000 cars, an increase of 100,000 annually. Plant Leipzig can produce up to 500 MINI and approximately 800 BMW vehicles a day and has introduced a night shift, producing vehicles around the...
Forbes: BMW’s Cubing May Be Key to Success
Michelangelo famously said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already, there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” It appears that BMW took that advice seriously, but prefers to work in the medium of aluminum. BMW insures...
BMW M3 and Subaru WRX Twenty Years On
The early years of this century were a fantastic time if you were a car enthusiast. Officially, the Rad-era had ended, but what I consider the era of greatness still had a few twilight years before its sunset. Back then, if you were anxiously waiting to come of driving...
Brakes, Belts, and Power Steering Fluid
Last week, I gushed over the fall foliage, posted photos of my Signal Red E9 and my Chamonix 2002 against the on-fire trees, and promised to ditch the clickbait and get back to wrenching. I have done so. Conspicuously absent from the “Rob’s cars in the New England fall”...
The Parade of Fall
My March 2016 column for Roundel magazine was titled “Car Obsession and Imelda Marcos’ Shoes.” In it, I described how when former Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife fled the palace, they left behind, according to Wikipedia, “15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 1,000 handbags, and pairs of shoes, the...
BMW CCA Virtual Garage Webinar: Tips & Ideas for Creating the Ultimate BMW Garage
Attention all CCA members!!! Do you have a cool garage you want to share with your fellow members? We are on season 4 of our annual Winter Garage Tour where we showcase garages from all across the country. While we can always just show cool cars in a garage,...
BMW Uses Rooftop Solar Panels to Generate Electricity at German Plants
If you’ve ever flown over a large manufacturing plant, it may have occurred to you that there’s a lot of just open space on top of a factory. All kinds of space that’s usually just dotted with some HVAC systems, perhaps a few skylights, etc. And, with few things...
BMW Assembles Battery Assembly Plant in Bavaria
Electric vehicles are known for their speed and quiet operation. Turn out the speed part is also true for the rate at which BMW is building it’s new high-voltage battery plant in Lower Bavaria. All 1,066 pillars for the new 150,000 square meter plant are now in place, after...
2024 BMW CCA Dream Car Raffle Winners
The 2024 BMW CCA Dream Car Raffle X-Travaganza found its winners during a drawing on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, hosted at Taylor BMW in Evans, Georgia. BMW CCA staff joined members of Sandlapper Chapter and the staff of Taylor BMW, including Luis Olmo, Taylor BMW Business Manager and BMW...
BMW Group Donates $1 Million to American Red Cross for Hurricane Relief
The BMW Group in the U.S. has pledged a donation of $1 million to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to support in the recovery efforts after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Catastrophic winds and rain hit the southeast, including the Carolinas, causing widespread damage and historic...
Sharkie is Spared the Axe
As I wrote last week, Maire Anne and I had a great weekend in Vermont with Sharkie, the ’79 Euro 635CSi. We only used Sharkie for the drive because the weather forecast was too rainy to take the rust-prone E9, and because the big guy was at the house...
Shark Sighted in Vermont!
My wife Maire Anne and I have a history of going up to Vermont on Indigenous People’s Weekend and visiting our friends Jon and Eileen in Manchester. Unfortunately, this is usually the same weekend as Vintage at Saratoga. Some years I’ve done both, shooting out to Saratoga for the...
It’s Brits Versus Germans at the House
Having owned over 70 BMWs and currently possessing nine, I don’t think I need to prove my blue-and-white cred to anyone. I’ve told and retold my origin story of a 2002-owning Hampshire College student who lived with us for a summer in Amherst when I was in junior high...
The Electrical Troubleshooting Issue I Need to Remind Myself to Check For
I’m pretty handy with a multimeter. I should be. After all, I spent 15 months working at Bentley Publishers, writing an automotive electrical book for them. I would’ve sworn I wrote several “How to use a multimeter” articles for BMW CCA, but I can’t find them. The pieces I...
Brakes, Belts, and Power Steering Fluid
Last week, I gushed over the fall foliage, posted photos of my Signal Red E9 and my Chamonix 2002 against the on-fire trees, and promised to ditch the clickbait and get back to wrenching. I have done so. Conspicuously absent from the “Rob’s cars in the New England fall”...
The Parade of Fall
My March 2016 column for Roundel magazine was titled “Car Obsession and Imelda Marcos’ Shoes.” In it, I described how when former Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife fled the palace, they left behind, according to Wikipedia, “15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 1,000 handbags, and pairs of shoes, the...
Sharkie is Spared the Axe
As I wrote last week, Maire Anne and I had a great weekend in Vermont with Sharkie, the ’79 Euro 635CSi. We only used Sharkie for the drive because the weather forecast was too rainy to take the rust-prone E9, and because the big guy was at the house...
Shark Sighted in Vermont!
My wife Maire Anne and I have a history of going up to Vermont on Indigenous People’s Weekend and visiting our friends Jon and Eileen in Manchester. Unfortunately, this is usually the same weekend as Vintage at Saratoga. Some years I’ve done both, shooting out to Saratoga for the...
