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New Bristol sports car will be called the Bullet

One of the great names in British carmaking history, Bristol, is coming back with a new sports car. It was first seen all camouflaged up at the Goodwood Festival of Speed just weeks ago, and now Bristol has announced the name the upcoming car will bear – Bullet. The concept name is Project Pinnacle, and to propel the vehicle, Bristol has chosen a 4.8-liter BMW V8. Power figures have not yet been revealed, but it is likely those will be disclosed at the car's official unveiling at the end of this month. It's been five years since Bristol last produced a car, the Fighter, which ceased to be in 2011. There never were that many Fighters produced – sources say only 13 cars made it off the production line. There were also plans to build a turbocharged version of the Fighter, but that never materialized; however, as the BMW V8 in the upcoming Bullet is a naturally aspirated unit, Bristol has said it will be the last non-turbo engine in a Bristol. The use of a BMW engine also neatly ties in with the first Bristol made, as the 1947 Bristol 400 used a BMW 328 powerplant. Some earlier Bristols have been crafted from aluminum, and the Bullet will be a step in a new direction, as the chassis is going to be carbon fiber. The carmaker told Autocar that the Bullet will be made available during the first quarter of next year. Related Video: News Source: AutocarImage Credit: Bristol Cars Plants/Manufacturing BMW Convertible

Recharge Wrap-up: Renault ZOE wins Zenn Monte-Carlo Rally, BC revives EV rebates

Renault ZOE EVs took the top four places in the 2015 ZENN Monte-Carlo Rally. Renault's cars finished first in consumption, regularity and overall standings. ZOEs took the top four spots overall and in the regularity tests, and the top five places for consumption. Renault entered four teams - two with professional drivers (finishing first and second), one piloted by journalists (placing third) and another by bloggers (taking seventh place). Another individual team entered the race with their own ZOE and finished fourth overall. The electric vehicle race took place over 130 miles and seven and a half hours. Read more in the press release from Renault below. British Columbia has reinstated its Clean Energy Vehicle Incentive Program. Phase two of the program, which starts April 1, is expected to put another 1,700 plug-in cars on BC roads. It's funded by the province's Innovative Clean Energy Fund, which gets its money from carbon taxes. Customers can receive rebates of up to C$5,000 for EVs, while fuel cell vehicle customers could get back up to C$6,000. Drivers can also get up to $C3,250 for scrapping cars built before 2000. BC is also investing in more charging infrastructure, EV fleets and outreach. See the video above, and read more from British Columbia government website and at Green Car Reports. BMW is noticing increased sales of its i3 EV tied to government incentives for electric cars. "We can see a clear connection between sales figures and political initiatives," says BMW Group CEO Norbert Reithofer. "Wherever governments offer tangible incentives for e-mobility, the registration figures for the BMW i3 soar." Last year, BMW sold about 2,000 i3s in Norway and 3,000 in California. In Germany, where BMW only sold about 2,100 i3s, Riethofer suggests the government needs to do more to support clean cars. "The German carmakers have delivered their part of the bargain. The ball is in now in the court of policymakers," he says. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Renault ZOE takes the top four places in the 6th ZENN Monte-Carlo Rally Following a sparkling victory last year, Renault ZOE has put in yet another remarkable performance at the 2015 ZENN Monte-Carlo Rally with four ZOE models taking the top four spots.

BMW reminds us what made the original M3 so great

Just because many are slavering for the global debut of the 2016 BMW M2 at the Detroit Motor Show doesn't mean BMW will let us forget the coupe that gave the letter "M" its global moxie: the M3. The Roundel has posted the first in a five-part series devoted to that seminal M, the 1987-1991 E30. Built as a homologation requirement for the race car BMW needed to beat Mercedes 190E 2.3/16V in the German Touring Car Championship, it was 1.5 times more expensive than the 325i of the time and company sales heads had doubts about being able to sell all 5,000 of them. As we know, that story had a happy ending. The first models came with a 2.3-liter four-cylinder with 195 horsepower, a chopped and tuned combination of the four-cylinder M10 block first used in 1962 and in Formula 1, with a cylinder head from the six-cylinder M88 that did duty in the M1. By the time the M3 Sport Evolution models marked the end of the first-gen production run, displacement had risen to 2.5 literz and output to 238 hp, but more important than those numbers were the phenomenal handling and relentless race victories. You should definitely check out the video above for BMW's peek into the backstory of the fourth M car after the M1, M535i, M635 CSi, and M5, and arguably most important. But if your M-centric tastebuds prefer a more modern take on the German brand's most driver-friendly vehicles, take a look at the videos below. Related Video: