(BMW)
BMW Italia and Garage Italia Customs - run by Lapo Elkann (yes, FCA Chairman John Elkann's brother) - have created a special Edition model to celebrate the 50 years of BMW history in Italy. The Edition combines the icon of future mobility with the Italian art of Giacomo Balla - "Lampada ad Arco" - which is replicated on the car. The original painting hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It represents a street lamp powered by electricity under moonlight. The revolutionary color technique and the advent of electricity in the 1900s are strictly linked to the future technology of the BMW i8. The car will run in the Mille Miglia 2016 following the BMW 328 driven by Sergio Solero, President and CEO of BMW Italy.
(Ford images)
The all-new Ford GT will debut availability of next-gen carbon-fiber wheels, offering new clear-coated, bare-carbon finish and extensive benefits of lightweighting - the dominant mantra in the auto business right now. The Ford GT is the second Ford vehicle to take advantage of carbon-fiber wheels; the first standard OEM application debuted on the 2015 Ford Shelby® GT350R Mustang. Unlike the Shelby GT350R’s black-painted carbon fiber wheels, however, the Ford GT wheels will be offered in two finishes – either a matte or a glossy clear coat - permitting the stunning nature of the carbon fiber weave to show through. The finishes perfectly match the two exposed carbon finishes available on the sills, fascia and extractor of Ford's all-new supercar. Working with supplier partner Carbon Revolution, the new wheels are constructed with the latest generation of advanced fiber and resin compound technology permitting greater design flexibility, resulting in flowing, more intricate spokes.
(BMW Group)
The Mille Miglia was the toughest endurance race in the world for three decades. The first appearance of the BMW 328 roadster – which debuted at the Eifel Race in 1936 – at the Mille Miglia ended in 1938 with a win in the class for vehicles with maximum capacity of 2.0 liters. Two years later, Fritz Huschke von Hanstein and Walter Bäumer secured a win in the overall placings, driving their BMW 328 Mille Miglia Touring Coupé to a fifteen-minute lead at the end of the race. Three other BMW 328 automobiles crossed the finishing line in third, fifth and sixth place. Since 1988, the Mille Miglia has been held as a reliability race for historic automobiles and it is a veritable feast for classic fans who line the 1000-mile route through Northern Italy in large numbers. Four hundred fifty historic sports cars will take part in this year’s event, driving from Brescia to Rome and back from May 19-22, 2016. The regulations state that only vehicles of the type that were registered at least once for the Mille Miglia between 1927 and 1957 are permitted to take part. They include the BMW 328. This year, BMW Group Classic is sending six 328 automobiles from its collection to line up at the start to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the legendary roadster.
(Volvo images)
Volvo Cars unveiled two new "40 series" (40.1 and 40.2) concept cars that demonstrate how Volvo plans to expand into the market for premium small cars with a range of vehicles that "combine bold exterior and interior design with industry-leading connectivity, electrification and autonomous drive technologies." The new concept cars will be the first built around Volvo’s new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), which has been specially created for smaller cars. Volvo’s new global small car range will include a pure battery electric vehicle as well as Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrain variants. Volvo plans to have sold a total of up to 1 million electrified cars by 2025 globally. (Volvo claims its modular approach puts it ahead of other manufacturers, but the modular approach has been adopted by several manufacturers, so that claim is bullshit.) The first new 40 series car is expected to go into production sometime in 2017.
(Infiniti images)
Infiniti has revealed the Infiniti Concept Vision Gran Turismo, "a vision of what a high performance Infiniti could look like in the future." (As if.) At any rate, it was created through a close collaboration with the creators of Gran Turismo®, the racing game franchise developed by Polyphony Digital Inc. that has sold more than 72 million copies worldwide. The Infiniti Concept Vision Gran Turismo will be available for download starting today in Gran Turismo®6 (GT6™) exclusively on the PlayStation®3 system.
Editor-In-Chief’s Note: I heard that several executive operatives with ties to their companies’ respective NASCAR racing programs were more than a little dismayed with my column last week entitled, “NASCAR’s CHIEF ENABLERS.” Okay, pissed-off would be more accurate. The gist of the comments that got back to me insisted that the manufacturer relationship with NASCAR couldn’t be better, that with ex-GM executive Brent Dewar managing the partnership for NASCAR, it’s all good and going in a positive direction. Except that’s what I would expect manufacturer NASCAR operatives to say, because no one wants to upset the applecart that has come to define the existing relationship. Why? When you have a relationship based on "we’ve always done things this way" inertia, it would require too much effort to sit down and study what is really going on. Besides, too many mini-fiefdoms would be exposed and too many hard questions would have to be asked. Here’s the deal – did I suggest that the auto companies pull out of NASCAR immediately? No. That would be absurd. But right now the manufacturers aren’t getting nearly enough out of their relationship with NASCAR. They are merely functioning as Side Show Bobs, ably abetting the NASCAR marketing machine. Which is why I believe the relationship needs to be blown up and then reevaluated, before it is started up again. The manufacturers simply aren’t getting enough out of NASCAR. Period. Not enough technology. Not enough common sense. Not enough active safety (as in eliminating the restrictor-plate race stupidity). Not enough manufacturer-focused marketing, etc. And one day, the right person – or the wrong person in terms of NASCAR’s interests, as the case may be – in the position to do something about it is going to start asking the tough questions. And as the NASCAR enablers in the manufacturer racing departments scurry around trying to react and come up with palatable answers, the sudden realization will wash over them that they could have and should have done something about this a long, long time ago. And when that time comes to pass, I certainly won’t hesitate to launch a withering “I told you so”. -PMD
Editor's Note: Ford has just released "Let's Race" - the third of five chapters in “The Return,” which is a long-form documentary that follows the development of both the street car and race car versions of the Ford GT from the decision to build the cars to the return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Watch chapter one, "The Decision," here and chapter two, "The Cutting Edge," here. (FYI: The Autoextremist makes a cameo appearance in chapter one.) -WG