BMW is investigating a spate of recent vehicle fires in South Korea.

One of the incidents involved a 750Ld that was reportedly destroyed after a fire ignited in the engine compartment. It had been purchased the previous day, according to The Chosun Ilbo.

A separate report in The Korea Times suggests two 520d sedans were torched in separate regions just days apart, while another 5-Series sedan caught fire just last week.

Altogether, at least seven BMW-badged vehicles have reportedly caught fire in Korea within two months. Interestingly, most of the fires are said to have involved vehicles at least a decade old.

“We first would like to apologize for causing grave concerns to our customers,” BMW Korea chief Kim Hyo-joon said in a statement. We are currently examining a 5-Series vehicle, which caught fire on November 3 … We are also working with the company headquarters in Germany to find out the cause as quickly as possible.”

The executive pointed out that three of the cars “had a history of maintenance at non-BMW shops,” however the company has stopped short of directly blaming third-party service technicians.

One owner claims BMW technicians worked on his 520d a day before it ignited. The car had allegedly received service related to a timing-belt recall, implemented to prevent the engine from unexpectedly stopping while underway.

“Since the timing belt isn’t installed inside an engine, engineers say there are no technical relations between the component and fires,” Korea’s Transport Ministry told the Korea JoongAng Daily, downplaying speculation of a potential connection.

Negative attention focused on Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and the BMW fires has been blamed for a dip in imports of foreign vehicles.

Jaguar has announced lower starting prices for its F-Type Coupe and Convertible models for 2017. The F-Type’s adjusted MSRP comes about two months after Jaguar announced lower prices for some of its 2016 models.

Prices for the 2017 F-Type Coupe will start from $61,400, representing a price cut of $3,600. The open-air F-Type Convertible will list from $65,400, or $2,700 less than the outgoing model. Jaguar says the new MSRPs are intended to improve the “competitive value position” of the F-Type range.

The cheaper F-Type models will ship with Jaguar’s supercharged 3.0L V6, rated at 340 horsepower. A six-speed manual will be equipped as standard while an eight-speed auto will be available as an optional extra.

In order to accomplish a lower price point, Jaguar has swapped out the F-Type’s previous 14-way power adjust seats for a six-way adjustable partially electric setup. However, Jaguar has kicked in a valet mode and solar attenuating windshield glass as standard, which the automaker says makes the new F-Type line a $1,700 value compared to the 2016 cars.

The 2017 Jaguar F-Type is scheduled to land in dealer showrooms in late spring 2016.

Photos by Drew Johnson.

Fully electric vehicles have been associated with emissions no better than a 35 mpg gasoline-powered vehicle in some states, according to a “cradle to grave” study released by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Estimating total emissions across a vehicle’s entire life cycle — from manufacturing to operation and eventual disposal — the research found that only two thirds of Americans live in areas where driving an EV ultimately produces fewer climate emissions than a comparable gasoline-powered or hybrid vehicle.

EVs start off with a slight disadvantage due to the energy-intensive processes used to manufacture batteries. An EV with an 84-mile range, such as the Nissan Leaf or VW e-Golf, are consequently associated with approximately 15 percent higher emissions before a single mile is registered on the odometer.

“For larger, longer-range EVs that travel more than 250 miles per charge, the manufacturing emissions can be as much as 68 percent higher,” the report estimates.

Electricity is generally a much cleaner source of power than gasoline, however significant regional discrepancies arise when comparing generation methods for the energy that ends up in an EVs battery. Driving an EV in a state with a heavy reliance on fossil-fuel power generation relates to higher emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity.

Combining all of the life-cycle factors, UCS researchers found that EV-related emissions in central states, such as Colorado and Nebraska, are comparable to gasoline cars that achieve 35-36 mpg. At the other end of the spectrum, a higher mix of clean-energy in Upstate New York’s power grid gives local EV drivers a clear advantage with emissions equivalent to a 135-mpg car.

“For all Americans, charging the average new EV produces far fewer global warming pollutants than driving the average new gasoline car,” the study points out (emphasis in original).

Looking at the country as a whole, the study suggests EV emissions are equivalent to a 68-mpg traditional vehicle. With an increasingly ‘clean’ electricity grid and more efficient EVs arriving on the market, the number is expected to grow.

General Motors and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration face fresh criticism over a botched recall involving vehicle fires.

GM last month issued a recall for more than a million older vehicles powered by its venerable 3.8-liter V6 engine. The campaign aims to prevent fires caused by oil leaking from the valve-cover gasket onto the exhaust manifold.

Notably, the company attempted to resolve the same issue with three different recall campaigns ranging from 2008 to April of this year. The ‘remedies’ typically focused on replacing flammable components near the exhaust manifold — theoretically stopping the fire from spreading, but without resolving the source of the fires.

“Service procedures under prior recalls … involved removal and/or replacement of spark plug wire retainers and, for certain engine configurations, replacement of the front valve cover gasket,” GM wrote in its latest recall documents. “In some cases,
these remedies were not sufficient to prevent subsequent engine compartment fires in the affected vehicles relating to this condition.”

Such revisions are not uncommon, however safety advocates are now asking why GM and government regulators did not see ongoing problems in the seven years since the first recall campaign was launched. GM only opened a new investigation in September 2015 after continuing to be sued for fires involving ‘repaired’ vehicles.

An AP report claims at least 1,345 vehicles caught fire after receiving service for the original recalls, resulting in 19 injuries and 17 structure fires.

“Over 1,000 fires is a huge number that should have generated a safety recall by GM before now,” said Center for Auto Safety director Clarence Ditlow. “To make matters worse, NHTSA missed the defect in its complaint database.”

Despite re-recalling a million vehicles, GM has not yet announced a final solution to the problem. It is unclear if the company is under investigation for failing to report the ongoing fires to the NHTSA.