BMW is working on two ‘green-energy’ vehicles for the Chinese market. Both will be made by the Brilliance-BMW joint venture and both will be based on the 5-series.

BMW showed the hybrid as a concept car at the Shanghai Auto Show in April. It has a turbocharged four-cylinder with 218 hp and en electric motor with 95hp. On electric power only it has a range of 75kw, with the range-extender patrol engine the range is 400 km.

We don’t know much yet about the plug-in EV, except that BMW is working on it. The hybrid might hit the market in late 2012 or early 2013, the EV will certainly arrive later.

Via: Autohome.

The Brilliance-BMW joint venture is working hard to get the new BMW 5-series in production in China. In the meantime the old one is still selling strong and according to these new spy shots BMW will not say goodbye to it yet, and even better, it will get a facelift for 2012.

Facelift is small, but still, a facelift it is. New mirrors and slightly changed headlights. Why now, would BMW do this? There can be two reasons: 1. BMW will sell the old 5 alongside the new 5. This happens a lot in China. The old 5 would in that case be turned into a ‘cheaper’ 5 and the new one would get a different Chinese name like ‘New 5′. The other reason might be that Chinese production for the new 5 is for some reason postponed and BMW wants to keep the old one fresh until the new 5 arrives at a later date.

The real reason is unknown at this moment. When the facelifted old 5-series will debut is not yet sure. We’ll keep you posted.

Via: Autohome.

The Brilliance-BMW joint venture unveiled their BMW-Brilliance New Energy Vehicle concept on Sunday, two days before the start of the Shanghai Auto Show. Otherwise nobody would have noticed.

The NEV is based on the long-wheelbase BMW 5 made by Brilliance-BMW. The car is called BMW-Brilliance because 99% of the technology comes from BMW, so their name goes first, jawohl.

It is a plug-in hybrid with a twin-scroll trubocharged patrol engine with 160kw and a 70kw electric motor. Range on full electric is 75km, with the petrol engine ‘range extender’ the range is 400km.

Some of the HEV’s functions can be controlled by mobile devices which can also display the range, fueal concumption etc. There are still vague plans to bring the HEV to the Chinese market, maybe nexy year or maybe later. Electric cars and hybirds don’t sell well in China but an expensive one might do better than all the cheap BYD’s that failed so far.

The BMW-Brilliance joint venture will bring a plug-in hybrid ‘New Energy Vehicle’ to the Shanghai Auto Show. The NEV is based on the China-made long wheelbase BMW 5-series. In pure electric mode it has a range of 60 to 75 kilometer, with the petrol engine ‘range extender’ the range grows to 450 kilometer.

Engines: twin turbo patrol engine with 160kw and a electric motor with 70kw. The plug-in hybrid BMW 5 is for now meant for China only. BMW however might sell comparable cars in Europe and the US in the future, all tech is BMW’s.

The BMW 5-series is made in China by BMW’s joint venture with Brilliance Automotive, alongside the 3-series. The Chinese fiver only comes as stretched ‘L’ and was available as 523, 528 and 535. The 520Li is the new entry-level car and it costs only 418.600 yuan, the 523 starts at 449.600 yuan. The 520Li gets a 6-in-line with 177hp and 320nm mated to an 8-speed tiptronic.

Brilliance-BMW will start building the new 5 in China soon. And as Benz did only last week, BMW makes one special for China. Real Chinese men like to be driven. The 535Li is 14 centimetre longer than the standard car, all that space is for the passengers in the back. To emphasize the long-car’s Chineseness BMW came up with some very louzy photoshops:

That’s even crap by North Korean standards. Bad, BMW!

The long five will get the 2.8 litre engine as well. No word on price yet, but likely from around 450.000 rmb. The Li will debut at the Beijing Auto Show next month.

A real Chinese man.

The Shanghai traffic police received 20 brand new Brilliance-BMW 530′s for duty during the Shanghai Expo 2010. That old fashioned little party will start May first and last 6 months. The city counsel is expecting millions of visitors who must be impressed with Shanghai’s riches and that ain’t easy with a Santana. I did expect though that Shanghai would use Shanghai-VW’s (modern ones) or Shanghai-GM’s. I saw some pics of an electricalexpirimental police-Buickthing but that doesn’t really count. Come on SAIC, don’t let those northern cowmen (known as Dongbeiren in Chinese) steal your moment!