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BMW M Certified Is Your Guarantee Of Total Excellence at Passport BMW

BMW M CERTIFIED- THE MOST POWERFUL LETTER IN THE WORLD Passport BMW is your Washington DC and Maryland BMW Dealer, and as one of the few M-Certified dealers in the United States, PASSPORT BMW has access to exclusive M models and materials, including previews of M products before they go to market. Passport BMW is the ONLY M Certified Washington DC BMW Dealer and is your Washington DC Expert in BMW M vehicles and BMW M specials and service. Our BMW M Certified expert sales associates and BMW M Certified expert service technicians have undergone rigorous and highly specialized BMW M vehicle training to gain special insights into the BMW M models. Using this highly detailed BMW M Certified training, we can provide you - our highly elite and selective BMW M vehicle client - with complete competence and confidence in all matters related to the Washington DC BMW high performance M series vehicles. more Along with all BMW M-Certified dealers, PASSPORT BMW makes is a priority to live up to and EXCEED your expectations vis a vie the luxury New BMW brand and its stellar reputation of high performance so that we can exceed our clients demanding expectations of excellence in the BMW Washington DC market and the BMW Maryland Dealer market. Regarding the iconic designation that accompanies our highest performing vehicle series, we can confidently assert that when it comes to the Washington DC BMW M Series, no other letter in the alphabet strikes longing in the hearts of sports car aficionados like 'M' does. BMW's performance-tuning branch has been creating the world's most exceptional and most recognized sports cars since 1972, mixing BMW luxury and technology with cutting-edge powertrains and suspension. The result is an unbeatable mix of attributes that have made BMW M vehicles the envy of the sports car world, and the zenith of Washington DC BMW Performance and this icon of the sports-luxury driving experience. Passport BMW is proud to be a Washington DC BMW M certified dealer, which means we're a great place to buy a new or used BMW M car, get your M maintained or pick up BMW M parts and accessories. Our knowledgeable BMW M sales staff knows these vehicles inside and out, and they can answer even your most detailed questions. They'll take the time to hear you out and will assist you in finding the perfect M model for your lifestyle and needs. We carry a large stock of vehicles at our Suitland, Maryland BMW M dealership, which means there's no waiting when you shop with us. Our BMW M inventory has the most popular colors and option packages, so you can be sure you'll find the vehicle you want today. Whether you want a BMW M5, M6, M3, X5 M or X6 M, we have them ready and waiting to hit the open road. Click here to browse our BMW M inventory

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Save time and start your purchase process from home with a contactless experience at Passport BMW

Passport Pre-Check: • The process is simple and easy! • Pick the Car that's Right for you • Value your trade • Value your trade-in • Personalize your payments • Personalize your payments • Select a protection plan • Select Protection Packages • Get approved for financing or leasing • Schedule for Home Delivery • Schedule in-store appointment or home delivery! Start Your Journey Now!

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BMW Group Celebrates Earth Day by Delivering More Clean Energy to California

The BMW Group understands addressing climate change requires industry collaboration across different economic sectors, and a restructuring of traditional processes for producing and using energy. This Earth Day, the company is doubling down on its efforts to deliver more clean energy to California. As the first automaker to establish renewable energy partnerships with agricultural dairy farms, the BMW Group is expanding and adding to those initiatives. Through its existing partnership with Straus Organic Dairy Farm in Marshall, CA , the farm has recently installed an expanded biodigester that transforms methane gas into renewable energy, successfully demonstrating how this partnership can be used to support more renewable energy development on small-scale organic dairy farms. Additionally, the BMW Group launched a partnership with CalBio, a developer of over 90 dairy digesters in California to increase access to more clean energy sources. These collaborations generate enough renewable energy to offset all BMW and MINI EV charging emissions in the state of CA with the cleanest type of energy available. Additionally, that energy is also exported to the public power grid, providing over 11 million kWh of renewable energy to the state. The result is a reduction of 27,000 metric tons of carbon emissions per year, which according to the EPA, is the equivalent of the carbon benefits of planting a forest the size of San Francisco. more Pasture to Power: Benefits of Dairy Digesters Dairy digesters represent an innovative way to reduce carbon emissions and generate economic benefits for agriculture communities creating a win-win opportunity for both industries. Dairy farms can produce renewable energy using biodigesters, which capture methane from cow manure that would otherwise enter the atmosphere as a powerful greenhouse gas. The methane is transformed into renewable energy and then exported to the public power grid, replacing the need for fossil fuel power plants. By capturing methane that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere, dairy digesters create a double emissions benefit. The California Air Resources Board recognizes this with a ‘negative’ emissions score, meaning that diary biodigesters not only offset carbon emissions, but reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The BMW Group’s dairy digester partners are recognized as being among the cleanest sources of energy in the state of California. In addition to the varied environmental benefits, the partnership also brings new revenue to family farms and agricultural communities through this production of clean transportation fuel.  Under the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program, the BMW Group can generate environmental credits with dairy farms, both sharing the value of these credits. This type of innovative, cross-sector partnership not only helps farm communities with new revenue, but also serves as a model to accelerate the adoption of biodigesters at more farms in California and beyond. “Our sustainability mission isn’t simply about reducing carbon emissions but making sustainability practices financially attractive for the long-run, so that these practices can expand and help our partners thrive,” said Adam Langton, Energy Services Manager, Connected eMobility, BMW of North America. “Dairy biodigesters are an example of an energy technology that not only reduces carbon emissions in a sustainable way but also offers a new revenue stream to farmers and their communities.  In the future, we hope to use this collaborative model we have created in California to support more biodigester development in the US and ultimately bring more clean energy sources to our customers.” Straus Organic Dairy Farm Expansion The BMW Group and Straus Organic Dairy Farm came together in 2019 to test the potential of an automaker and dairy farm partnership to generate renewable energy for electric vehicle drivers. Through this successful collaboration and generation of LCFS credits, the sustainability partnership has grown and expanded. Straus is now investing in a small-scale digester model for organic dairy farmers who want to adopt an affordable methane technology to reduce methane emissions and earn a new revenue source. The new biodigester produces more energy and additional carbon savings, enabling Straus to further create a self-sustaining system, allowing the farm to thrive, both financially and sustainably. Albert Straus’ farm is the first certified organic dairy farm west of the Mississippi River and he founded Straus Family Creamery -- the first 100% certified organic creamery in the U.S., Straus is already a leader in pioneering innovation. The partnership with the BMW Group furthers Albert’s ultimate goal of his farm becoming a net carbon-neutral dairy farm. “Farms have a crucial and essential role in being a solution to climate change. I appreciate BMW Group’s collaboration in helping us create a viable farming and food system for our communities,” said Albert Straus, founder and CEO, Straus Family Creamery. CalBIO Partnership The BMW Group is also working with CalBIO, designer and developer of dairy digesters in California. The company makes dairy-specific biodigesters to augment waste handling operations, save costs and assist in the nutrient management process for farms around the state. As California is home to 20% of the dairy industry, it’s a significant market and ripe for advanced sustainability practices. “CalBio is pleased to be provide clean, green and carbon negative electricity to BMW’s electric vehicles in California from its California dairy biomethane projects” said N. Ross Buckenham, CalBio’s CEO.  “Our dairy biomethane capture projects deliver cleaner water, cleaner air and clear skies while also delivering greenhouse gas reductions”. The LCFS credits that are generated through these partnerships not only provide agricultural communities with additional revenue sources.  These credits also allow the BMW Group to finance cutting edge sustainability programs like ChargeForward, the company’s innovative, flexible smart charging program. BMW ChargeForward Program – Program Launches next week ChargeForward is the first smart charging program to offer customers incentives for maximizing the integration of renewable energy with EV charging. This advanced smart charging initiative is available to all BMW battery electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicle drivers in Northern and Central California who are also PG&E residential, electric customers. Interested BMW EV consumers can complete an application at www.bmwchargeforward.com to check eligibility. Enrolled drivers can start earning incentives next week, when the program officially launches. The program runs through March 2023. ChargeFoward was designed to help improve grid stability, support the integration of renewable energy and power the company’s EVs in the healthiest way possible – forwarding the BMW Group’s commitment to sustainability from design to engineering, production and the vehicle’s overall lifecycle.  The company also hopes to expand its ChargeForward program to additional states and utility companies later this year.

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Learn how to mount the BMW Roof-Mounted Bike Rack on your BMW

Learn in this video how to mount the BMW Roof-Mounted Bike Rack. It is a safe way to transport mountain bikes, street, touring, and children’s bicycles and on your BMW. You can mount the bike rack on the base rails of BMW roof carriers or railing carriers. Prepare the bike rack by placing the rim guard over the toothed belt on the roof-mounted  bike rack. Then place the end of the tooth belt through the buckle. Use the key to open the lock on the front lever and remove it from the bike rack. Now unlock the fastening wheel. Push the barrel nuts into the openings of the rear locking lever and of the front two locking levers. Guide the short sliding block through the opening of the rear base plate of the bike rack and screw the rear locking lever onto it from above. Guide the long sliding blocks into the openings on the side of the fastening wheel and screw the front locking levers onto the sliding blocks from above. Open the side covers of the mounted roof carrier bars on your BMW. Mount the bike rack onto the rails of the roof carrier, by aligning the sliding blocks around the centre of the carrier bars. Insert the sliding blocks into the rails of the roof carrier bars and slide the bike rack into the required position. Secure the bike rack on the roof carrier bars by turning the locking levers tight and then pressing each locking lever downwards forcefully until they engage with an audible click. Close the lock in the front locking lever. When it is delivered, the roof-mounted bike rack is designed for loading from the right-hand side of the car. It is possible to modify the roof-mounted bike rack for loading from the  left-hand side of the car. Click here to browse BMW accessories.

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How-To Install the BMW LED Door Projectors

Learn in this video how to install the BMW LED Door Projectors. They are available as an accessory and you can easily install them yourself on your BMW equipped with entry door lights. The new projectors have the BMW logo design installed by default. An additional BMW M logo design is included. A further projector slide package with BMW M Performance designs is available. If you want to exchange the slide insert, remove the light panel by turning it a quarter of a turn anticlockwise. Then take out the lens cluster and pull it apart. Now you can replace the slide insert with another one with the “TOP” side facing up. Push the lens cluster back together and insert it back into the door projector. Close it again by twisting the light panel onto the opening. The lens with the slide insert can be rotated by 360° to adjust the image. more The BMW Driver's Guide app specifically describes the equipment and functions included in the vehicle. The Owner's Handbook is available as an app in many countries. You will find further information on the Internet at: https://www.bmw.com/bmw_drivers_guide

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BMW connects customers with new My BMW App.

BMW announced today the all-new My BMW App, providing customers with the ultimate in connectivity and digital services for their vehicles. The new app succeeds the BMW Connected app and builds on its seamless feature integration with several new functionalities, improved Amazon Alexa integration, and more. Customers can also manage their BMW Financial Services accounts through the My BMW App. The My BMW App will become available to U.S. customers in mid-April 2021. The My BMW App is the new universal interface to a BMW vehicle. It displays information on the status of the vehicle, and depending on the equipment, allows functions to be activated remotely (incl. locating the vehicle, locking/unlocking the doors, monitoring the vehicle surroundings using the Remote 3D View function), and houses all of a customer’s BMW information and accounts in one place. The My BMW App’s new design increases clarity and ease of use, ensuring a seamless user experience. BMW Financial Services is seamlessly integrated; customers can view their accounts, make payments, view account history, enroll in paperless statements and more, within the My BMW App. more Some other key features of the new app include: • Remote Software Upgrade notifications: customers can receive notifications for Remote Software Upgrades via the My BMW App and can easily download these upgrades at home before transferring and installing them in the vehicle. With Remote Software Upgrades, BMW will offer customers new and improved digital features for BMW iDrive 7 on a regular basis. • The BMW Digital Key, which turns an iPhone into a vehicle key, offers convenient set-up via the My BMW App in just a few steps for vehicles equipped with the corresponding feature. The BMW can then be used without a physical key and this access can be shared with up to five other people. If desired, the driver can set safety parameters, such as a reduced maximum speed, when sending a key. • Amazon Alexa integration is now available in BMW models with BMW iDrive 7 and adds “wake-word” functionality where applicable for entirely hands-free operation. The voice service also remains available for vehicles with BMW iDrive 5 and 6. • The Climate Timer allows pre-conditioning of vehicles with electrified drive systems – by heating the interior in winter and cooling it in summer, for example. • The filter function for charging station search makes it easy to find suitable charging facilities during a journey by quickly adding or removing various search parameters (preferred, compatibility, Fast charge, etc.). • The Maps tab now offers greater ease of use and enhanced performance, featuring quick filters for charging stations, parking locations, fuel stations, and BMW service centers. Further improvements have also been made to route calculation. The My BMW App is an entirely new app, and its scalable universal architecture will support future requirements, allowing new functions and customer requests to be implemented easily on both iOS and Android systems. The My BMW App will become available April 12, 2021, to U.S. customers on both iOS and Android compatible mobile devices; the BMW Connected app will be fully replaced by the My BMW App at the end of June 2021.

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Happy Easter Weekend from all of us at Passport BMW

Warm wishes on Easter to all our customers and their families. May this pious day bring along positive energies and great joys in your life. Click here to browse our Holiday Specials.

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BMW is the first carmaker to enable its customers to use iPhone as a fully digital car key

BMW Digital Key for the iPhone. The BMW Digital Key for the iPhone will enable customers to just tap to unlock and easily get going by placing the iPhone in the smartphone tray and pushing the start button. Setup of the Digital Key can be done through the BMW Smartphone App. The car owner can also share access with up to 5 friends including a configurable car access option for young drivers which restricts top speed, horsepower, maximum radio volume, and more. Management of access can be done from inside the car as well as through Apple Wallet. Additional features of the new Digital Key include: - Storage in the Secure Element of your iPhone and access through Apple Wallet - Power reserve for iPhone where car keys will still function for up to five hours if the iPhone turns off due to low battery - Ability to share access with up to 5 friends via iMessage - Apple Watch compatibility more BMW is a leading contributor to the Digital Key standard. The BMW Group was quick to recognize the potential of smartphones as digital keys – if done right. Standardizing the Digital Key contributes to user experience, security, and availability in smartphone models all of which were key to the BMW Group strategy for the Digital Key right from the start. Apple and BMW have been working closely with the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) to press ahead with the establishment of global standards. The Digital Key specification 2.0 for NFC has been released in May 2020 while the next generation of Digital Key using Ultra-Wideband technology is already well underway. Broad availability for BMW models and iPhones. BMW is excited to announce the availability of Digital Key for iPhone in 45 countries for a broad range of models: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, X5, X6, X7, X5M, X6M, and Z4 if manufactured after July 1st, 2020. Compatible iPhone models will be iPhone XR, iPhone XS or newer, and Apple Watch Series 5 or newer. For more information please visit www.bmw.com/digitalkey

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5 Reasons To Buy Tires From Passport BMW

BMW Original Tires are meticulously engineered to deliver a command performance. We set the standard when it comes to what’s between you and the road. 5 REASONS TO BUY TIRES FROM A BMW CENTER. 1. The right tires for your BMW model 2. Competitive tire prices 3. Expert installation by factory-trained technicians 4. All major brands, including Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop, Pirelli, and more 5. Road hazard coverage included on eligible tires ROAD HAZARD COVERAGE. YOU MAY BE COVERED WITH ROAD HAZARD TIRE COVERAGE. Get more peace of mind on the road at no additional charge. Now, eligible tires purchased at a BMW Tire Center will have complimentary Road Hazard Tire Coverage for the first year of ownership. It’s that easy. Click here to shop online and schedule installation today.

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BMW Group and PG&E Plug-In to Leverage Renewable Energy and Sustainably Power Electric Vehicles.

The BMW Group and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced an expanded partnership that further leverages renewable energy to sustainably power electric vehicles (EVs). ChargeForward is the first smart charging program to offer customers incentives for maximizing the integration of renewable energy while optimizing their EV charging. This advanced smart charging initiative is available to all BMW’s battery-electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) drivers in Northern and Central California who are also PG&E residential, electric customers. Enrollment in the 24-month pilot kicks off today, with the program officially launching in mid-April and running through March 2023. The pilot is designed to further explore how to optimize EV charging with renewables on the electric grid and enable more customers to power their EVs with cleaner energy. Based on past research, the use of optimized charging can enable electric vehicles to accept an additional 1,200 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy per vehicle per year, which is the equivalent of four months of clean energy charging for a typical battery EV. more What is Smart Charging? Through smart charging, EVs act as a flexible grid resource to support the overall reliability of the electric grid. Smart charging focuses on moving EV charging away from times when electricity is in high demand and toward times when there is less demand and also more renewable energy on the grid such as mid-day. By responding to requests to move their EV charging times, drivers will support the electric grid and take advantage of clean, renewable energy. Additionally, utilizing EVs as a flexible grid resource could ultimately lead to cost savings associated with operating and maintaining the grid as well as for customers owning an EV. In the future, PG&E and the BMW Group believe that vehicles can play a larger role in supporting the grid as new vehicle technologies are developed. Future EVs may have the ability to discharge the vehicle battery to support the grid, expanding the capabilities beyond smart charging and supporting customers and the grid during emergencies. To support this, PG&E and the BMW Group will collaborate in a lab setting to explore this potential by testing vehicle-to-grid functionalities that could support bill savings for customers driving EVs as well as test using EV batteries for backup generation and other grid services. “Our sustainability vision at the BMW Group aims to bring sustainability principles to all aspects of the customer experience – including the energy our electric vehicles use. ChargeForward demonstrates how our company’s digital technology can help customers use more renewable energy and reduce their energy costs,” said Adam Langton, Energy Services Manager, Connected eMobility, BMW of North America. “ChargeForward is part of the BMW Group’s commitment to provide our customers with charging solutions that are convenient, reliable and sustainable.” “The more than 315,000 electric vehicles plugging into PG&E’s electric grid offer a unique resource that contributes to building our clean energy future in California. As EV adoption continues to grow, the potential for these clean vehicles as a flexible grid resource becomes more significant. Our ongoing collaboration with BMW has allowed us to explore and demonstrate future possibilities of scaling the smart charging capabilities of this growing resource to support the electric grid,” said Quinn Nakayama, Director of Integrated Grid Planning and Innovation at PG&E. BMW ChargeForward Phase Three Program Participation Designed for a larger group of BMW EV drivers – about 3,000 EV drivers compared to 100 and 400 in phase one and two – phase three of the pilot will further explore how incentivizing drivers to shift their EV charging times can help meet the needs of the electric grid and use excess renewable energy available during the day. Interested consumers can complete an application at www.bmwchargeforward.com starting today. The 24-month pilot begins in mid-April and runs through March 2023. BMW hopes to expand the availability of the program to MINI electrified customers in the near future. Through BMW ConnectedDrive, which enables connectivity between cars, drivers and their surroundings, and a customized BMW ChargeForward smartphone app, participating BMW drivers will be able to opt-out of any smart charging request, based on their driving and personal preferences. When a customer allows their vehicle to be smart charged, the vehicle charging will be shifted to meet the needs of the electric grid. Participating BMW EV drivers earn incentives for smart charging including $150 at sign-up and up to an additional $250/year by following ChargeForward recommendations. The total amount earned over the two years depends upon individual participation in charging events. These incentives can offset the extra cost for some drivers, depending on their electricity rate. For example, during the Spring and Fall months, program participants could earn incentives that offset the entire cost of charging their vehicle, charging 750 miles per month with clean electricity at no cost due to the ChargeForward incentives and plugging into the grid when renewable energy is highly available. BMW and PG&E ChargeForward Partnership Now in its third phase, ChargeForward originally launched in 2015 to test the ability of EVs to support the electric grid and provide benefits to customers through vehicle-grid-integration applications that enable smart charging and demand response. Optimizing charging against renewable energy was the primary focus of the second phase. Initial tests of renewable optimizations showed participants averaged more than 55% of renewable energy charging, more than double the national average at the time. Highlights from the ChargeForward Phase 2 pilot include: • Over 1 million miles were powered by 100% renewable energy charging during a one-year period. • Smart charging EVs can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an additional 32% on average in Northern California, according to research from the University of California Berkeley. • Smart charging, when combined with broad access to workplace charging infrastructure, enables plug-in electric vehicles to more than double their renewable energy usage. • A ‘smart-charging’ plugin hybrid can integrate more renewable energy than a normal-charging all-battery electric vehicle, despite the smaller battery size Additional results from the previous phases of the pilots can be found here: Phase one and Phase two. The goal of the phase three pilot is to continue to make smart charging more beneficial to the grid and more rewarding for BMW EV drivers. The program is expected to help improve grid stability and support the integration of renewable energy – forwarding the BMW Group’s commitment to sustainability from design to engineering, production and the vehicle’s overall lifecycle.  By sharing the benefits of this optimization with drivers through incentives, smart charging also helps reduce the total cost of EV ownership, thus encouraging EV adoption.

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Take On Whatever Tomorrow Has In Store With The BMW College Graduate Program at Passport BMW

A DEGREE OF DISTINCTION With a diploma in hand, you're ready to take on whatever tomorrow has in store – and BMW Financial Services wants you to make your mark in style. Recent college graduates can get a great rate and $1,000 off a new or Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) BMW. New just for you. Build a new BMW and save $1,000. Click here to build your own BMW more Certified Pre-Owned Save $1,000 on our best CPO vehicles. Click here to search our pre-owned inventory. Take the wheel. Get on the road with Passport BMW. Click here to schedule a test drive. Eligibility Requirements. To participate in the College Graduate Program, you must: • Have earned an undergraduate, graduate, or associate's degree from a U.S. accredited college or university within the previous 24 months, OR be eligible to graduate within the next 6 months and have a verifiable offer of employment. A copy of your diploma or official transcript will be required. • Have at least 6 months of credit history with no previous derogatory marks on any credit lines. • A debt-to-income ratio of 20% or less.

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Take a look a the large combined, curved display featured on the new BMW iDrive 8

Technology and Connectivity BMW iDrive 8 is the most powerful and encompassing technology ever created by BMW. In recent years, there has been a huge increase in the software scopes for the iDrive system. Today, BMW’s iDrive handles a wide array of tasks that extend far beyond a conventional display and operating concept. These range from integrating telematics and connected services to data processing and preparation, connecting to devices and deep integration of third-party apps or projected modes, as well as seamless integration of cloud-based services like BMW Maps. The BMW Group has been developing the central control unit and software integration platform in-house, entirely on Linux since 2013. Having complete control over software is crucial for creating a stable, upgradeable, high-quality system that distinguishes the brand. In the past, the BMW display and iDrive system has been overhauled on average every three years, a cycle that is roughly half as long as the complete product development cycle for a vehicle. In the era of fast-paced digital development, it is no longer enough to completely update a model’s digital features every three years, and this resulted in a fundamental change of approach in 2018. The arrival of Remote Software Upgrade means the vehicle is now designed and conceived as a digital platform. So, when a new-generation BMW iDrive is launched, the development work is far from finished. Instead, it acts as the basis for ongoing development during the product life cycle. The interaction between the digital software platform and hardware and the ability to think of this holistically from the moment development starts are vital, as this is the only way of enabling dynamic development. The digital and functional vision aimed for at the end of the life cycle dictates what is required of the hardware in the development phase. Click here to read more about the New BMW iDrive 8.

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