BMW dan Peugeot Rencanakan Kerjasama

Senin, 02 Februari 2009 | 18:05 WIB

TEMPO Interaktif, Jakarta : Produsen mobil Prancis PSA Peugeot Citroen dan BMW dan Jerman dikabarkan berencana untuk memperkuat kerjasamanya atau membentuk aliansi bisnis, demikian dilaporkan harian bisnis La Tribune pada hari Senin (2/2).

Menurut harian itu, BMW yang sebelumnya sudah bekerja sama dalam pengembangan mesin berkapasitas 1,4 dan 1,6 liter dengan PSA, serius membicarakan kemungkinan kerjasama lebih dekat, karena eksekutif BMW baru mengunjungi kantor kepresidenan, perdana menteri dan menteri keuangan Prancis sekitar dua pekan lalu.

Pemerintah perancis menolak berkomentar atas hal itu.

Tahun lalu BMW juga mengalami imbas resesi ekonomi global yang dipicu kredit macet di Amerika Serikat awal tahun 2008. Penjualan BMW tahun lalu turun 4,3 persen dibanding tahun 2007 menjadi 1,435,876 unit. Selain menjual BMW, produsen mobil Jerman itu juga menjual Mini dan Rolls Royce.

Sedangkan PSA Peugeot Citroen dilaporkan mengalami penurunan penjualan sebesar 8,7 persen menjadi 2,95 juta mobil.

Technical analysis of the BMW F1.09

By Craig Scarborough

BMW Sauber had the only full interim car running with semi-legal bodywork, slicks and KERS before Christmas, so the unveiling of the F1.09 at Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit didn't produce any major surprises.

With the greater resources applied to it since mid-2008, the F1.09 appears to be more complex and considered than any of its rivals. Additionally, despite a conservative commitment to have KERS ready for Melbourne, BMW are believed to be ahead of their rivals in hybrid development.

The huge front wing is unchanged from the test car, with a simple main plane and a two element flap. As with McLaren only the top flap moves, controlled by an electric motor fitted inside the endplate. Also carried over from the test car are the ungainly endplates and the nose cone, which still has the turning vanes affixed to its lower edge but has gained some shaping to its vertical sides.

Sat behind the nose cone is a new front suspension. Technical director Walter Riedl explained that the car needed different suspension to suit the new slick tyres and this was largely the reasoning behind running the two interim cars in winter testing. While he emphasised the changes made to the rear suspension, the front is also different with the wishbones and steering arms now shaped to maximise their aero effect with the simpler front wing.

One change has been to raise the rear leg of the upper wishbone; this will alter the car's anti-dive properties under braking, but is most likely to be an aerodynamically-driven change.

What differentiates the F1.09 from its rivals is the treatment to the front of the sidepods. The chassis blends into the front of the sidepods with a wedge shaped structure. This also forms the inner face of the sidepod inlet, while the areas just above and below it are aimed at influencing airflow over, and particularly under, the sidepod.

Without the 2008-style bargeboards (although a pair of smaller 2009-spec ones will be fitted to the car), the aerodynamicists are struggling to get the correct pressure and distribution of the flow passing under the car. BMW Sauber have come up with a very different concept with these wedge panels to partly solve the problem. The front edges of the floor and the edges of the splitter all feature jagged fins to send vortices to aid flow towards the diffuser. These wedges will probably also serve to cool the KERS batteries and control unit as there are blanking panels fitted to them.

The sidepods themselves are quite tall and broad, with little undercut, and almost as wide as the floor at their widest point. They then tuck in quite neatly at the rear with a moderate bulge to allow cooling air to exit. This is aided by a heavily-slotted section low down by the floor - these exits are legal because the sidepod bodywork 100mm from the ground is excluded from the tight regulations to the upper bodywork.

As with a lot of the bodywork on the launch car, the top body is largely the same as the test car, while the rear wing is the first definitive and legal two-element 2009-spec we have seen from BMW as the interim car ran a three-element narrow rear wing. At the rear of the car, the diffuser is a simple arrangement with the stepped section of the under body blending up into a V and raising up to merge with the rear crash structure.

As already mentioned, the car sports new rear suspension geometry. This required a new gearbox casting, still made by BMW in titanium. The gear cluster is not different in concept but has had attention to reflect the different loading it will receive from the KERS system charging and discharging. The KERS system itself is a BMW-developed electric solution with the batteries mounted in both sidepods and the control unit in the right-hand sidepod.

New BMW Cars M5 in 2009

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The 2009 M5 is a 4-door, 5-passenger luxury sports sedan, available in one trim only, the Sedan.

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The BMW Series 5 launches in Jakarta

PT BMW Indonesia has just launched the BMW 5 Series sedan in Jakarta. The cars are entirely imported, or completely built up (CBU), in the jargon, but BMW Indonesia boss Joerg Kelling says that by February 2008 the 5 Series cars will be assembled in Indonesia, or completely knock-down (CKD), or even ready to assemble (RTA), no doubt as an attempt to avoid some of the taxes and import duties levied on such cars.

BMW 5 Series
BMW 5 Series.

Helena Abidin, the Corporate Communication head of PT BMW Indonesia, says no-one has ordered any of the cars yet, and she can’t say how many are available, but they cost 748 million rupiah for the 523i and 948 million for the 530i.

Cashed-up BMW fans have more to cheer about this month, with the Series 3 Convertible going on sale shortly. [1]

BMW Sauber unveil the new F1.09

The BMW Sauber F1.09BMW Sauber became the sixth Formula One team to unveil their challenger for the 2009 season, with a launch event in Valencia, Spain.

The German squad, who have set their sights on fighting for the title this year, were one of the first teams to run with a 2009 aerodynamic package in testing last year.

BMW's technical coordinator Willy Rampf says the new set of rules for this year has made creating the new car an exciting challenge.

"Developing a new Formula One car is always exciting, but this time there was something even more special about it. We really were starting from scratch," said Rampf.

"First and foremost, the switch from grooved tyres to slicks means more grip, of course, but it also moves the balance of forces further forward: removing the grooves gives the front tyres proportionally a greater contact area and more grip than the rear tyres.

"Because the car differs so significantly from its predecessor, we already started work on the first concept studies in February - two months earlier than normal and before the F1.08 had even started its first race.

"Our aim. was to build a car with high aerodynamic efficiency and in so doing claw back as much of the downforce as possible, which the new regulations had taken away."

The team's managing director Walter Riedl says BMW had pulled out all the stops to make sure they can meet their goals for the season.

"The development of the F1.09 centred on three key areas: aerodynamics, optimum tyre utilisation and the integration of KERS," said Riedl. "That's where our focus has been from the outset and where we have channelled the large reserves of knowledge amassed during the course of last season.

"The F1.09 contains the combined expertise of a highly motivated team - one which will be pulling out all the stops to fulfil our ambitious aims once again in our fourth year on the F1 grid."

The Hinwil-based outfit were one of the first teams to run with their KERS system on track, in the hope that their early start will give them an edge at the start of 2009.

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen believes the system will help Formula One show itself as the pinnacle of technology.

"The development of KERS will see Formula One take on a pioneering role for series production technologies going forward," said Theissen.

"F1 will give a baptism of fire to innovative concepts whose service life and reliability have not yet reached the level required for series production vehicles, and their development will be driven forward at full speed.

"At BMW we have always used the Formula One project as a technology laboratory for series production. With KERS this approach takes on a whole new dimension. Formula One will reposition itself and undergo a change of image, allowing the sport to take significant strides forward in terms of public acceptance."

The F1.09 completed an installation lap immediately after its unveiling, and will commence full testing later today.