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2015 BMW M4 gets initiated into the club

It's easy for enthusiasts and traditionalists to give BMW a hard time these days, what with its plans to add more front-wheel drive models and seeming move away from more emotionally connected cars. However, the push for perfection that underscored its old Ultimate Driving Machine motto is still in there, especially in its M models. In fact, the first M4 recently made it to US shores, and the company thought the only appropriate way to celebrate was to introduce its new coupe to some of its high-performance forefathers.
The M4's initiation into the M car brotherhood involved bringing together no fewer than 52 classic and newer models - including four racecars and many privately owned vehicles - to an empty parking lot and letting the coupe drift and slalom around them to say hello. According to BMW, there was a combined 11,566 horsepower on hand. It takes a pretty trusting owner to stand back and watch as a brand-new vehicle slides its tail out with the rear wheels smoking within feet of their pride and joy. Stay tuned until the end where the owners and their cars get a shout out in the credits. Scroll down to read BMW's press release about it.

Final decision on Toyota/BMW sports car due by year end

BMW and Toyota signed a memorandum of understanding to share technology and build a sports car way back in 2012, and months later, they made that partnership official. This oft-rumored model from two auto industry titans still hasn't hit the road, and the time has come to make a final decision about its future. Thankfully, the model's fate is just a few months from being known. "By the end of the year we will approve whether or not we will make it," a Toyota spokesperson said about the sports car project, according to Automotive News Europe. "The whole study before that, on what kind of platform, on what kind of architecture, that's been progressing quite well. We haven't yet decided to give the green light to the project, but it's coming up." The collaboration is supposed to result in jointly developed fuel-cell tech, composites, and research into lithium-air batteries. Little is officially known about what Toyota and BMW are planning for the sports car project, but there are plenty of rumors about what's in store. Both automakers are supposed to get their own version of the vehicle. Some reports say the Japanese model will be the revival of the Supra, and the Bimmer-badged one might end up being a replacement for the Z4. The potential powertrains have been suggested as a German-sourced, turbocharged inline six with rear-wheel drive and a super-capacitor-powered plug-in hybrid with all-wheel drive.

Mini Cooper SE Convertible wheels made entirely from recycled aluminum

Mini has revealed an interesting fact about its limited-run Mini Cooper SE Convertible: It's the first production car with wheels made from 100% recycled aluminum. Despite sharing the same look as wheels available on the regular SE hatch, they're actually much more environmentally friendly. The wheels were developed with Swiss wheel manufacturer Ronal. The company sells aftermarket wheels under the Ronal and Speedline brands, and it supplies OEMs. And it's no stranger to more environmentally-friendly wheel production. It supplies wheels for the Audi E-Tron GT that are made using a smelting process that produces oxygen rather than carbon dioxide, and it now has a line of claimed carbon-neutral aftermarket wheels. But back to the Mini's wheels. Using all recycled aluminum has the obvious benefit of not requiring new aluminum to be manufactured. But the benefits are greater than just the raw material use. Mini points out that a major improvement in carbon emissions comes from being able to skip the electrolysis process for new aluminum manufacturing. Pure aluminum is extracted from aluminum oxide (which is in turn taken from the mineral bauxite). To do this large amounts of electricity are passed through molten solutions of aluminum oxide and cryolite (which takes energy to heat) across graphite cathodes and annodes. Not only does this use a lot of electricity that has its own carbon costs, the oxygen that separates from the aluminum bonds to the graphite annodes, yielding more carbon dioxide (which is why the production of those Audi wheels is also interesting). In total, Mini says the recycled wheel production reduces carbon emissions by 75%. More specifically, it estimates about 0.16 kilograms (0.35 pounds) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of aluminum used. Mini also stresses that this process still maintains all the strength of conventional wheels, just in a greener way. And of course, the wheels themselves are recyclable again. Mini, and BMW more broadly, are looking at ways to upscale the process and to source suitable recyclable products, likely other old wheels from cars no longer on the road. Though neither company said anything about when we'll see fully recycled wheels more widely available. Related Video: MINI Electric Pacesetter inside and out