The new M5 & M6?

Spied! BMW M5 and M6 Take it to the Streets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BMW has been conspicuously testing many of its future models in the past few weeks. With the 3 Series sedan and Gran Turismo both making recent appearances, our spy photographer has been busy shooting the Bavarian automaker’s future offerings. The latest BMWs to be snapped in the spy lens are the next-gen M5 and M6, both caught testing in their native Germany. BMW isn’t even trying hard to disguise the M5 anymore, going so far as officially releasing a video clip on the Web this week. The poor attempt at masking the “M5” badge on the trunk — which you can make out through the tape — is really the only cosmetic change to the rear of the car since we last saw it in our own backyard, when it had no badging of any kind. But seeing multiple angles of the car, new details are now apparent. The characteristic “M” fender vent occupies the space above the front wheel arch, looking much like it does on the current M3. As expected, the M5 sports a unique front valence and has a more athletic stance compared to other 5 Series models. The hood looks to be the same as on the current 550i, at least on this mule, giving no hints about the twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8 housed underneath. Apart from a few scant strips of camo, the 2012 BMW M5 is seen practically naked in these photos — leaving little to the imagination for its full reveal.
The M6, on the other hand, is still attempting to hide its new features, covering up parts of the hood and some of the front end as well as almost the entire rear end with camo. This appears to be the same car we caught winter testing in February, although it’s swapped the five-spoke wheels for a set of seven-spokes. Besides not being covered in snow and wearing different wheels, the M6 looks pretty much the same in these shots as it did in winter. We can still see the signature quad-tipped exhaust and obscured taillights in the rear, which likely won’t look too different from those on other 6 Series models. The headlights are still masked around the edges, but don’t look like they hide any differences from the ones that appear on the lesser 6 Series. While packing the same twin-turbo V-8 punch as the M5, give or take a few horsepower, the M6 appears to have only subtle exterior accents compared to its four-door sibling.
The production version of the is M5 expected to make its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, with the M6 about a half year later, possibly at either the 2012 Detroit or Geneva auto shows. We’re betting this isn’t the last time we’ll see these M mules in the wild before then.

Source: http://wot.motortrend.com/spied-bmw-m5-m6-streets-76993.html#ixzz1MuhU21q9

Today´s favorite - Ferrari 599 GTO

Very creative ad created by Grey for BMW

The Spot: Refueling BMW

5 Series shows off its fuel economy with help from a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker By Tim Nudd

GENESIS: BMW is renowned for performance—raw speed and power. Now, it wants to highlight its innovation, too, in areas like technology, connectivity, and fuel efficiency. The 5 Series excels in the latter, getting 32 miles per gallon highway. To call attention to that, Grey created an aggressive, sweeping, but ultimately witty spot, heavy on the special effects. In it, a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker airplane swoops in, apparently to refuel a speeding BMW—but ends up refilling the driver's coffee mug instead. The viewer is meant to feel the car's visceral power but take away a message of efficiency—that 5 Series drivers will need a top off before their cars will.

ART DIRECTION: "It needed to feel very premium, very cinematic," says Grey executive creative director Jack Fund. "We wanted to bring some Hollywood magic to it." To get that epic look, they hired an all-star team of CG experts, including Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski (who also shot the much-admired "Mad World" ad for the videogame Gears of War) and Oscar-winning effects master Eric Barba and his team at Digital Domain. Everything about the ad is grandiose—the pacing, the camera movements, the CG aircraft. The spot was also letterboxed to make it feel like a movie.

COPYWRITING: "With up to 32 miles per gallon, chances are you'll need refueling before it will," says the single line of voiceover copy. The 36-year-old tagline, "The ultimate driving machine," is back after being sidelined in recent years.

FILMING: Kosinski saw a chance to do a muscular ad like the ones he used to love—in particular, Ridley Scott's 1990 dream-sequence Super Bowl ad for the Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo (which aired only once). Kosinski closed down five miles of two-lane blacktop north of Palmdale, Calif., for the two-day shoot and used a camera car and a helicopter to get the shots. "There was no speed ramping. We were really moving," he says. "We had to work at high speeds to have any semblance of reality, given the speed of the jet." Kosinski often test-drives new equipment in his ads before using it in features. For this spot, he used two Red Epic cameras, a new arm called the Pursuit Crane for the camera car, a 10-millimeter superwide-angle zoom lens from Germany, and something called an Eclipse Ball, which is a gyro-stabilized camera mount for the helicopter that captured exceptionally steady aerial shots. The coffee shot was done in-camera, with an exact replica of a KC-135 fuel nozzle built and modified to pour coffee at high pressure, with dry-ice tablets causing it to steam.

EFFECTS: Barba and the Digital Domain team surveyed a KC-135 in a museum, learned its movements through YouTube footage, then recreated it digitally. "The tricky part is fitting it into the environment," says Barba. They slaved over the details—lighting, shading, heat distortion from the engines, contrails spiraling off into the distance, dust kicking up behind the turbulence. "All those subtle touches are what make this thing feel real," says Kosinski.

 TALENT: The driver has a "cool factor" and an "aspirational, Bond-like quality," says Fund, but he's really a bit player—almost a prop—in service to the plane and car, which are the stars. The voiceover is Chris Pine, who plays Kirk in the new Star Trek movies. "He's got a new energy for BMW that makes them a little more modern," says Fund.

SOUND: "We talked about music in the beginning, but then we decided to go with sound design only, to get that visceral and dynamic energy," Fund says. Oscar-nominee Ren Klyce handled the sound. The car sounds were recorded on location at speed.

MEDIA: The spot is running on TV but not, oddly enough, in cinemas. All involved say they'd like to see it on the big screen, but there are no plans for that at present.

WATCH THE SPOT HERE:

Today's favorite - 58 Corvette

Aston Martin Readying Electric Cygnet For Production

Is an electric Aston Martin in the future? Yes — but it won’t be an electrified sports car to take the likes of Mercedes-Benz’s SLS AMG E-Cell to task. Instead, expect the company to ready an EV variant of its new Cygnet city car.
A new report from Britain’s Car magazine reveals Aston is hard at work readying an electrified version of the Cygnet, which launches in gas-powered form later this year. Shocking? Hardly.
Aston officials have long viewed the Cygnet as means to provide its customer base with an efficient (yet luxurious) runabout, allowing owners to revel in the same luxurious splendor found in their “proper” Aston, but without a feeding a voracious appetite for fuel. Nixing the combustion engine altogether furthers that ideal, and is quite relevant in Europe, where many cities are opening certain areas and roads only to electric and/or hybrid vehicles.
Further, Aston itself will have to do little — if any — extensive engineering to create such a Cygnet concoction. Toyota has long toyed with an electric version of its iQ city car, which in gas powered form, serves as the basis for the regular production Cygnet. A production-ready version of the iQ EV was shown earlier this year at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show.
If the Cygnet EV mirrors that car (and it’s quite likely it will), expect the two-door to use a small electric motor to drive the front wheels. Power will be provided by a lithium-ion battery pack sandwiched beneath the Cygnet’s floor. Range should be in the neighborhood of 65 miles per charge — which fits nicely into Aston’s theory of owners using this as an urban runabout and their other Aston (a Vantage, Vanquish, Virage, Rapide, One-77, etc.) for long trips.
Perhaps the other unknown is when and how Aston will push the Cygnet EV onto the market. Toyota hopes to establish a leasing program for the iQ EV in Europe later this year, but Aston may prefer a more traditional sales program for its gussied-up variant.

Source: http://wot.motortrend.com/aston-martin-readying-electric-cygnet-production-78143.html

Todays favorite - Ferrari 458 Italia

Will Smith's 18 wheeler

HOUSE REAL BIG: Will Smith's $1.8 Million Mansion On Wheels

By GlobalGrind Staff

We all knew rapper-turned-actor Will Smith was living "Big Willie" style but this is crazy!
Earlier this week the "Men In Black" star caused a ruckus in New York after his monstrous two story trailer blocked traffic, as well as views in Midtown, while filming "MIB 3," the third installment of the sci-fi comedy series.
Smith's luxury trailer features two decks, an electric privacy glass (at the touch of a button, all windows go from clear to opaque and you have complete privacy), a granite bathroom and a recording studio. At 1,150 square feet, the titanic trailer is larger than most two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments in the city.
The specially designed ride, nicknamed "The Heat," also includes a lounge, a movie room with a 100-inch screen, marble floors throughout, offices for his assistants and writing staff, a large bedroom and all-granite bathroom. It measures about 53 feet long, has 22 wheels and weighs in at around 30 tons.
Inside, it features a full-service kitchen with arched windows and matched-grain Italian cherrywood cabinetry.
More pictures:

Inside Will Smith's trailer.

 The second deck of Will Smith's trailer.

 The kitchen in Will Smith's trailer.

Source: http://globalgrind.com/hip-hop-culture/house-real-big-will-smiths-18-million-mansion-wheels-photos