So why has BMW released details of its all-new 1-series – and even allowed a selected few journalists to drive it – months before the car's official release?
BMW, the German premium carmaker, is expecting record new car sales and profits this year driven by the introduction of new models and strong registrations for Mini.
BMW Group group's profit from ordinary activities, at €3,205 million, was 2.8% below the record level of 2002. Net profit for 2003 was €1,947 million, 3.6% down from 2002.
German trade paper Autohaus reports that some manufacturers, including BMW, Audi and VW have ceased to offer manufacturer warranties following changes to German product liability law.
In the closely fought compact executive market, one model stands out from the rest: the BMW 3-series.
Two UK dealer master technicians have won the BMW international service technician competition. Nearly 6,300 technicians from the German carmaker's dealerships from 33 countries competed to gain a place in the finals in Munich.
BMW has reportedly pulled forward the launch of its much anticipated 1-series in order to keep pressure on VW's slow selling Golf, according to rumours swirling through Munich.
Williams Liverpool, one of the UK's biggest BMW dealerships, is to open a new aftersales department as part of a £2.3m expansion project on the former Tate & Lyle sugar refinery site it occupies.
BMW Group says ideas from employees at the Oxford MINI assembly plant have saved £10.5 million in the past two years implementing BMW's Continuous Improvement Process.
Ford retailers received a boost this week after a leading used car guide revealed three of its best selling models had firm residual values. CAP Black Book rates the Focus, Mondeo and Fiesta – all permanent fixtures in the list of top sellers – as strong used car performers.
Rover has given a strong hint towards future design direction by revealing a new look for the 75. Changes to the front and rear aim to give the car a premium look like core rivals from BMW and Audi.
With 1,104,916 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motorcars sold, the BMW Group achieved a new sales volume record last year and surpassed the previous year's (2002) record of 1,057,344 units by 4.5%.
German BMW dealers' legal action over the company's decision to reduce their gross margins on sales of the new BMW 7 Series received a setback in the verdict of a Munich district court
German BMW dealers who had taken legal action over the company's decision to reduce their gross margins on sales of the new BMW 7 Series have received a setback in the verdict of a Munich district court, which last week confirmed on appeal a lower court's ruling of May 2003 that BMW had the right to amend its contract terms.
Retro rockets 6 into space
BMW chief Helmut Panke doesn't like the idea of a BMW people mover. “We won't do a boring van,” he says bluntly. But that doesn't mean BMW isn't looking at building roomy, estate-type vehicles capable of carrying five or seven passengers. Just don't call them people movers...
GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler saw sales decline in 2003 while several import and 'transplant' brands, including Toyota, Honda and BMW, posted record full-year sales.
This is BMW's new E60 5-series estate, caught on a photographic shoot in South Africa. This late pre-production car is being used for brochure and press photography in preparation for the E60 estate's public debut at the Geneva Show next March.
Sytner BMW in Nottingham has opened a new £10m development that it claims is one of the largest dealerships for BMW in Europe.
At the invitation of Phoenix Venture Holdings, unions TGWU and Amicus have jointly apponted Peter Regnier, a former finance director of Rover Group in the pre-BMW 1980s, to inspect Phoenix Venture Holdings and MG Rover accounts on their behalf.
