[Mark]

BMW -- "Experiencing Joy."

BMW has historically always had a strong presense at the IAA, but this year looks like it may be the biggest show for BMW yet.

September 15 marks the start of the show and BMW will be situated in the all new Hall #11. This is a newly constructed addition to the IAA and BMW is making the most of the new space. First and formost, BMW will finally be able to display all of is brands next to each other, in past years MINI and RR have had to be in a separate building because of space issues.



BMW has constructed a racing circuit around its show space on which is will put its show cars on display. On this racetrack BMW will show off its world premieres as well as its EfficientDynamics fleet. The central idea is that BMW wants to keep everyone aware that they are a brand that mixes high level racing with road cars to give us the ultimate in 'sheer driving pleasure'.













BMW is playing the part and will be going all out for the show. EfficientDynamics will certainly be a centerpiece at the show. With that will come the Vision EfficientDynamics car which was recently revealed on the internet as well as an emphasis on the incorporation of the EfficientDynamics concept into the entire BMW lineup.



In addition to the concept cars, BMW will also have on display and have the official world premieres for the BMW ActiveHybrid 7 and X6 as well as the X1 and 5 Series GT. My gut tells me there will be an additional surprise at the show, but so far there are no signs to point to what the surprise will be.




MINI -- "What a Birthday. It’s MINI."





This will truly be a multi-focal show and MINI will too make a big splash. First of all, it is MINI's 50th birthday so expect to see alot of historic tribute to the MINI brand as well as the 50th Anniverary editions of the MINI Cooper, JCW and MINI Accesories. BMW has also been hyping up the 'terrible twins' ahead of the show. One half of the terrible twins is the MINI Coupe Concept aka the MINI Speedster (basicly a choptop speedster version of the MINI Cooper). This will be the first public viewing of the car.



The second part of the terrible twins will likely be the MINI Crossover car which is MINI's further expansion into becoming a full scale automaker. The concept version of this crossover model was already shown off last year, and the test model's have undergone heavy road testing during the course of this year, so the only thing left that BMW could show us is the actual production version of the car.



ROLLS-ROYCE

Rolls Royce will make the centerpiece of their stand not only the current cars on offer but the all new Ghost which will make its world debut.