BMW Officially Unveils New M5 Sports Saloon Concept Ahead of Shanghai Show

We received our first taste of the new M5 Concept during the weekend thanks to a series of photos that leaked from a press event in Germany, but today, BMW came out with an official release detailing its sports saloon ahead of its world premiere at the Auto Shanghai 2011 in China later this month.

The Concept M5 is essentially 99 percent production ready, so don’t expect any surprises in terms of styling at the presentation of the production model at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September this year.

The highlight of the fifth generation of the M5 will be the new twin-turbocharged V8 engine lurking under the bonnet. BMW officials have already confirmed that the engine is a development of the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 with 555HP and 680Nm or 501 lb-ft of peak torque, tweaked to deliver more power. However, the German company is still keeping mum on output numbers.

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2012 BMW M5 Concept: First Photos Out in the Open

In a move that certainly won’t leave BMW officials happy, pictures of the 2012 M5 Concept from a preview event held in Germany prior to the car’s world premiere at the Shanghai Auto Show in China later this month, leaked onto the internet.

As with most BMW concepts of the sort, the new M5 study is 99 per cent production ready, so don’t expect to see anything different when the sports saloon make its premiere in production guise later this year, possibly at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

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Buick Envision Concept SUV Heads to Shanghai Auto Show

A new Buick concept model called the Envision will make its global debut at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 18. Jointly developed by Shanghai GM and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), the Envision is a crossover model designed for the Chinese market, although the company points out the vehicle incorporates Buick's "dynamic, fluid, quiet and comfortable" styling language.

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Chevrolet Teases All-New Global Malibu Sedan, will be Sold in Nearly 100 Countries [with Video]

This is the first official photo of the all-new Chevrolet Malibu show car that will debut simultaneously at the Shanghai Auto Show in China and the New York International Auto Show in mid-April. And if you’re wondering why GM made plans to show it in China, that’s because unlike the current model that’s offered only in North America, the new Malibu will be a global vehicle that will be sold in nearly 100 countries on six continents and built in multiple locations, including China and two facilities in the United States.

“This Malibu takes Chevrolet’s established and award-winning nameplate to new places and introduces it to new audiences around the world,” said Rick Scheidt, vice president of Chevrolet. “Whether the Malibu is sold in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, or Australia, it has been engineered from the ground up to meet the needs of customers around the world.”

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Brilliant…BMW’s China Partner Brilliance Working on X1-Lookalike A3 SUV

There is no question that when it comes to automotive clones from China, history repeats itself. Following in the footsteps of Mercedes-Benz’s China partner BAIC, which came out with a five-door hatchback closely resembling the Stuttgart firm’s B-Class, Brilliance Automotive, BMW’s associate in China, is working on a compact SUV model that looks very much alike X1 crossover.

According to Chinese news site Auto Sohu that broke these scoop photos, the new Brilliance model with the Audi name and BMW looks will be officially revealed at the upcoming Shanghai Auto Show in mid-April. It is reported that the Brilliance A3 SUV will be offered with a 1.6-liter gasoline engine sourced from Mitsubishi’s local division.

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2011 Shanghai Auto Show Promises Several World Premieres

China’s auto shows are growing bigger and bigger by the year as the local market continues to expand in sales. The most significant car show is the Auto China, which is held alternatively in Beijing and Shanghai every other year. This year’s edition will take place in Shanghai.

More often than not, leading American, European, Japanese and Korean automakers present their newest offerings at well-established car shows like Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris and Detroit, but in the past few years, we’re seeing increased numbers of new models being unveiled in China.

This year show will be no exception, as many new cars are planned to be revealed in Shanghai (April 23-28), despite the fact that it overlaps the 2011 NY Auto Show (April 22 - May 1).

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2012 BMW 6-Series Coupe Officially Revealed, 118 High-Res Pictures for Your Viewing Pleasure

BMW has put the top on its all-new 2012 6-Series with the presentation of the Coupe model ahead of its world premiere at the Shanghai Auto Show in China in April. The new 6-Series Coupe comes shortly after the convertible model that received its public debut at this year’s Detroit Motor Show in January.

Based on last year’s ‘BMW Concept 6 Series Coupe’, the styling of the Bavarian firm’s premium GT is the work of BMW design boss Adrian van Hooydonk, who replaced Chris Bangle in 2009. The new 6er feature s a far less controversial but somewhat more bland styling that its predecessor with a pronounced front end sporting a busy set of headlamps and auxiliary lights and a relatively low roofline.

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New York and Shanghai Motor Show Organizers Make Plans to Avoid Overlapping Dates in the Future

Not too many years ago, the Shanghai Motor Show, or any other car salon in China for that matter, were treated as an oddity with limited appeal to western automakers and the public alike. However, times are changing and today, China’s burgeoning car market has put the country’s motor shows on the map with an increasing number of global players opting to present their world premieres at the likes of the Beijing and Shanghai Auto Salons.

This change of focus has posed some new problems in cases when motor shows in the West coincide with China’s car salons. One particular example is the 2011 editions of the New York and Shanghai motor shows as they share a common press day on April 20. To avoid conflicts the organizers of the two car shows met at a forum for global auto shows in Geneva and agreed to work together to evade overlapping dates in the future.

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Chinese Hybrid Sports Car Mixes Audi R8 and Ferrari Styling Traits

It has come to the point where this blatant copying of Western car designs from Chinese auto manufacturers is getting totally ridiculous. The Tong Jian S11 that was reportedly revealed at the Shanghai Motor Show earlier this year but somehow escaped our radars, borrows several styling cues from a number of vehicles including the Audi R8-esque profile and the Ferrari-inspired tail design.

The Tong Jian S11 is said to be a hybrid sports car that presumably combines electric motors with an internal combustion engine. There are no specific details on the car's mechanics nor if it is scheduled to enter production at some point.

Via: Leblogauto & Autoblog.com , Images: Goche Sohu

Dongfeng to Launch Citroen ZX-Based Fengshen Sedan at Shanghai Show

The 2009 Shanghai Auto Show in China this April will see the unveiling of the Dongfeng Fengshen, a compact sedan that is built on a modified version of Citroen's long-gone ZX platform and is powered by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine with an output of 105-horsepower. Even though you may have never guessed it by looking at these photos, the 4,5 meter long Fengshen was actually designed with the help of the folks over at Italdesign - a lot of good that did...

When it goes on sale in China this May, the Dongfeng Fengshen will compete against a whole army of domestically produced small sedans like GM's Buick Excelle, Hyundai's Elantra and VW's Jetta.