All BMW’s to come with sat-nav as standard

BMW has announced that by the end of the year every new car for sale in the UK will come with navigation as standard, making the German firm the first mainstream manufacturer to offer sat-nav across its entire range at no extra cost.

From July, the 2 series convertible and 2 series Active Tourer will get navigation as a standard feature, plus the Z4 range will receive the upgraded BMW Professional Navigation. In September the BMW 1 series range and 2 series coupe will include navigation as standard too.

Complementing the sat-nav will be a 6.5-inch screen, iDrive controller and traffic message channel, all of which will be available as standard alongside sat-nav.

For those customers looking to upgrade to the Professional Navigation, you’ll get a larger 8.8-inch screen with iDrive Touch controller, real time traffic information and online services. The cost of this upgrade has also been reduced for 1 and 2 Series models. Customers of the 1 series hatch and 2 series coupe and convertible can enhance their car for £900. The upgrade cost for 2 series Active Tourer and Gran Tourer customers has also been reduced to £1,395, with this package also including a head-up display system.

Jeff Knight, forecasting editor cars, CAP, said the move would pave the way for others manufacturers to follow.

He added: “On-board navigation systems now offer so much more technology than previously seen with the likes of 2D and 3D navigation map displays, traffic information and particularly with BMW standard e-call functionality which is a key safety feature. As well as having standard navigation across the range all BMW models will see an improvement on their residual value from between £300 to £600 (model dependant) so this is good news all round for the customer.”

Sat-nav will join the BMW Emergency Call system, DAB radio and Bluetooth with audio streaming which are other highlights from the standard specification across the range.