To better suit demands of world markets, BMW is stepping up its game in terms of efficiency and functionality. Aside from systems like BMW's EfficientDynamics, the automaker's latest innovation is right in the center stack.
Making an appearance on the 2011 X3 sport-ute, BMW's improved cupholders have been redesigned to suit global demands -- namely, American. The new cupholders, which occupy a central space in the X3's center stack, represent an effort to achieve higher ratings from consumers, according to X3 project manager Joe Wierda.
"I spent the past three years ... trying to get the guys back in Munich to understand that we’ve got to get the cupholders right," Wierda said. "We sent over Big Gulp cups and big McDonald’s cups and said, ‘This is really what we have to address.’"