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BMW reportedly steps up its electric vehicle plans
Mercedes isn't the only car maker determined to beat Tesla before it gets huge. Sources speaking to German business daily Handelsblatt claim that BMW is in the midst of planning an executive shuffle that will also include a big shift in its electric vehicle strategy. While the company would still offer ground-up EV designs like the i3, the new strategy would greenlight electric versions of some of BMW's most important vehicles, including the 3-series sedan, X4 crossover and iconic Mini. If the leak is accurate, management is likely to approve the change at the end of September.
BMW wants plug-in hybrid options for all its major models
Let's say you've been itching for a plug-in hybrid BMW, but the i3 SUV isn't your style and the i8 is a bit too sporty. Well, maybe your patience will pay off as the automaker's recently announced that the platform powering the aforementioned rides will make its way to the "core-brand models." This starts with a 3-series eDrive prototype debuting in Miramas, France. What's under the hood? a TwinPower Turbo four-cylinder that's based directly off the power-plants of the i3 and i8, as noticed by Autoblog. BMW says that its plug-in hybrid tech is flexible enough that it can go into basically any of its vehicles and that the implementation can happen pretty quickly, too. If you're curious as to what it all looks like, we've embedded an official mock-up image after the break.
Intel talks up 3-Series chipset, Core 2 Extreme CPU for laptops
Shortly after revealing that a quad-core laptop chip was indeed in Intel's pipeline for 2008, the firm has decided to go public with even more laptop-based processor details over at Computex. Intel's executive vice president Sean Maloney had the honors of "unveiling" the 3-Series chipset family (formerly known as Bearlake), which will of course support DDR3 RAM, PCI Express 2.0, HDMI, and can come stocked with G33 / G35 Express integrated graphics. More importantly, the outfit formally introduced plans for an Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile processor that should be released in Q3 of this year. According to Mr. Maloney, the chip is targeted to be the company's "highest-performing mobile dual-core processor that still includes energy-saving power features for laptop designs." No word just yet on whether or not this CPU will cost more than the rest of your laptop components combined (but we wouldn't be surprised).[Via Laptoping]
