The Frankfurt motor show will be open to the press on the 13th and 14th of September and BMWBLOG will be there, naturally. After all, who can resist the allure of a couple of days in Germany surrounded by great cars and good people coupled with good sausage and beer.
The Frankfurt Messe (convention center) encompasses quite a large tract of land and multiple buildings not far from the Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt. BMW has one of the halls, the newest – Hall 11, to itself. And they plan to put on quite a show as we saw from the i3 & i8 concept reveal at the end of July. There’s a track built into the facility for goodness sake (though probably not for much more than running demonstrations or a decent footrace).
BMW will show off the new M5, the new 1er, the i3 and i8 concept cars, as well as variants of the new 5er, ConnectedDrive, the new engine lineup and accessories. BMWBLOG has also secured several interviews with BMW management which we’ll share with you.
The short version of BMW’s press release for the auto show ran to 72 pages, and hidden in it was a gem of diesel proportions. The 525d. Powered by a turbo-charged diesel 2L four cylinder, the 525d goes from 0-100 kmh in 7 seconds (for the sedan) and returns 49 MPG (converting 4.8 liters/100 km into MPG – this is not an EPA estimate). That is hitting the sweet spot of performance and frugality. Oh, this is the car you order with the eight speed automatic, it returns the best fuel economy and fits the purpose of this car like a glove.
Of course, this isn’t the Frankfurt BMW Motor Show and there’ll be a lot of interesting concepts and production ready vehicles there. BMWBLOG will scour the stands for neat vehicles. Expect Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes Benz to be there in force with great products and then there are some little known but intriguing marques like Artega.
Oh and don’t forget Skoda, a brand that one crusty old technology editor holds in high regard. And then there’s this, the Citroen Tubick concept; well, on second thought . . .
(Photo from the French Carissime site: http://www.carissime.com )
