#Bmw5Series

Toyo Tires has just announced their vehicle lineup for this year’s SEMA Show, bringing four high-profile and customized vehicles to their booth and announcing three of them today.

The results for the most successful cars of 2011 so far are in. Automotive data and marketing solutions company Polk has calculated the results from the first six months of 2011 new vehicle registrations and have come up with the top picks for non-premium and premium models.

Now that we know the mid 1990s Honda Civic and Accord hold the top two spots amongst car thieves, what cars do thieves avoid most?

The development of the Jaguar XF wagon is still a work in progress for the British automaker. Ford’s product planners did not include a wagon body style when the sedan was first designed and Jaguar engineers have had to develop the XF estate from square one, with the project has becoming considerably more expensive and complex.

If there’s any car out there that proves less is more, it’s this BMW 528i built by Evan and featured on Canibeat.com. Obviously the 5-Series is a luxury sedan before anything else, but who says you can’t add a little sportiness to your luxury? This 5-Series started by being outfitted with BMW’s M Sport kit, but it’s 3D Design’s components that really make it stand out. Subtle and clean, the M Sport front lip, carbon fiber splitters and carbon fiber rear diffuser completely transforms the 5-Series.

BMW claims it is the cleanest 5-Series ever and out performs its closest rivals by 10 percent when it comes to mpg. The 520d EfficientDynamics sedan achieves 62.8 mpg and emits 119g/km of CO2 emissions.  The car still uses the 2.0-liter turbodiesel engine which produces 184-hp and 380 lb-ft of torque. The 520d can accelerate to 62 mph in 8.2 seconds.

BMW will expand its Chinese joint venture with local automaker Brilliance, in an effort to build 300,000 cars per year in China. BMW’s joint venture near Beijing currently builds the 3-Series and 5-Series, and will add the X1 crossover in 2012.

BMW and Chinese automaker Brilliance have joined forces to create a plug-in hybrid version of the 5-Series long wheelbase sedan sold in the Chinese market.

BMW is planning to expand its range yet again, with reports of an upcoming 4-Series lineup that would compete against the Audi A5 Sportback in the burgeoning sporty hatchback segment.

Purists may scoff at the 4-door MINI Countryman and its betrayal of “brand values”, but BMW’s bean counters are laughing all the way to the bank as the company credits the newest MINI with helping profits surge 15-fold in 2010. BMW’s net income was recorded at 3.23 billion euros in 2010, up from 210 million euros in 2009.

There wouldn’t be much of a Geneva Motor Show if AC Schnitzer didn’t have a thing or two up its sleeves to announce. For this year’s show, we now know they’ll at least be debuting a new ACS 5 Sport S and 99d vehicles, based on the BMW 550i and Z4 respectively. With both priced at the same amount, approximately $205,785, it probably comes down to if you want a nice sports car or a sedan.

Each spring, a jury of 66 automotive journalists from around the globe get together to pick a winner for the World Car of the Year title. The journalists are asked to vote by secret ballot, selecting the winner from 10 cars that have made the final cut.

The long awaited next generation BMW M5 will get its first showing in (lightly disguised) concept form at the Shanghai Auto Show. With China becoming a rapidly important market for BMW (read: sales are booming), the new car, codenamed the F10, will surely be a hit with performance-minded buyers in China and the world over.

Some driving schools teach you the rules of the road. Others show you how to get the most out of your car while driving at the limit on a closed circuit. A rarefied few, like BMW‘s facility in the former East Germany, can show you how to get away with life and limb intact should you ever come under an armed assault.

With BMW’s lineup of factory armored cars, sold under the BMW Security lineup, are frequently sold to customers who live in locales where the rule of law isn’t always stringently enforced. The armor plating helps these types of BMW owners defend themselves against bullets or bombs, but the other half of the equation is driving training. The BMW facility, stationed at a former Soviet airbase, is a prime location to teach evasive driving maneuvers, and as the video below explains, it’s  pretty badass.

[Source: BMW]

Video after the jump

Studie AG is one of the rare but well-known Japanese tuners that specialize in European vehicles, more specifically BMWs. Over the past decade Studie AG has customized a huge range of BMWs, from vibrant to subtle, race cars to street cars. Their newest creation is a 2010 BMW 5-Series GT that has received a flat green ‘Safari’ theme.