With the 2012 Summer Olympics officially opening yesterday in London we thought it was time to check out the official vehicles for the big event. In a massive marketing move signed in 2011, BMW became the official automotive partner of the 2012 games. As official sponsor, BMW will loan the London Olympic Games Organizing Committee a fleet of 4,000 branded vehicles to transport VIPs and executives between various sites using the newly designated and highly controversial Olympic only lanes. The 30 miles of specially designated roads have been introduced to help with speedy transit between venues.

The Olympic fleet is distinguished by the London 2012 branding wraps which have been designed specifically for the various models.

In order for BMW to secure the deal they had to meet the Olympic committee’s stringent emissions requirements: while the average emissions of vehicles in the UK comes in at 138 grams of CO2 per kilometer, the German automaker had to come in below 120 g/km – which BMW did at 116 g/km for the Olympics.

To get there, a portion of the cars BMW is supplying are electric vehicles: 160 units of the 1 Series ActiveE and 40 of the Mini E, with another 40 of the 5 Series Active Hybrid. The rest of the fleet is comprised of the 320d EfficientDynamics (1,550 vehicles), 520d Efficient Dynamics (700), X3 xDrive 20d (17), X5 xDrive 30d(10) and Mini Countryman Cooper D (200 vehicles), plus another 25 R1200 RT motorcycles and 400 BMW Streetcruiser bicycles.

Earlier this month, BMW unveiled their newly designed London 2012 Olympic Park Pavilion which represents a significant architectural addition to the Olympic Park, providing an exciting assortment of the company’s latest vehicles against the backdrop of the Olympic Stadium and Aquatics Centre.

In addition to providing all the fleet vehicles for the Olympic games BMW has also brought their Art Car collection which is on display during the London 2012 Festival that runs into early September.

Kudos to BMW UK for stepping up to support the Olympic spirit in such an efficient and bold way. We hope all the Olympic folks have as much fun being chauffeured around in those BMW vehicles over the next three weeks as they do watching the games.

Go Canada go!