Zaha Hadid Z-car concept

Zaha Hadid is an Iraq-born and London-based architect, who became the first female recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. Her ambitious buildings have earned her much acclaim, and having designed the latest BMW factory, Hadid has now turned her sights on cars with the unveiling of the Z-car concept. Not to be confused with the similarly titled Nissan/Datsun, Hadid?s Z-car is a small plastic-bodied monocoque with a prominent lifting door.

New BMW 2-Series Active Tourer arrives as BMW’s first front-wheel-drive car (+video)

The new BMW 2-Series Active Tourer (pictured) arrives in the UK September 2014 Many will see it as sacrilege that the new BMW 2-Series Active Tourer MPV is front-wheel-drive, but pragmatists will see it as a sensible move to extend BMW’s depth of offerings. Whichever side you come down on, the BMW 2-Series Active Tourer – previewed by the BMW Concept Active Tourer at Paris in 2012 – is a production reality and does look like it will fill very well the space in BMW’s range for a compact MPV. Despite looks that are almost the opposite of what you’d expect from a BMW – stubby nose and a high roof line; a proper BMW take on the Mercedes B-Class – the 2-Series Active Tourer still manages to exude BMW style, albeit in a more practical way to the rest of the range.

2012 BMW M5 UK Price £73,040 & new UK M5 photos & Video

2012 BMW M5 UK photos, video & price BMW spilled the beans on the 2012 M5 back in June, so we already knew it would cost £73,040 when it went on sale in November in the UK. But now November is here, BMW UK has decided – quite sensibly – that now’s as good a time as any to remind us of the fact and to send over a bunch of new photos of the M5 and a new M5 video. Apart from a set of UK-specific photos and video of the new M5, we also get reminded just how appealing a prospect the new M5 is.