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Color me electric: a nine-year-old designs a crayon-colored Mini wrap

Perhaps one is never too young to help design the look of a car … with the help of a box of crayons. DonÂ’t tell nine-year-old Oliver Gorrod, who lives in Oxfordshire in England, that it canÂ’t be done. Young Oliver has finished first in a contest sponsored by MINI Electric in the U.K. and crayon-maker Crayola to create an exterior color wrap for the EV that “champions nature.” “I like the idea of all cars being electric, as they are better for the environment, animals and the planet. My car is designed as camouflage, so it blends into natural environments,” said the young man, who was among hundreds of entrants aged from four to 10 years from the U.K. Oliver wins the honor of his design being featured as a vinyl wrap for a car (he only wins the wrap) and a bundle of Crayola art materials for himself and his school. Oliver will also get an invite to visit MINI Plant Oxford for a private tour. “The creativity of the designs were fantastic," said Federico Izzo, director for MINI UK & Ireland. "We are excited to bring OliverÂ’s design to life and hope he will continue to innovate and dream big in the future.” Added Jade Childs of Crayola, “We are delighted to share Crayola art materials with Oliver and his class as part of the competition prize, and we hope they will continue to be inspired and express themselves as they explore, discover, play, pretend, and dream.” Design/Style Green BMW MINI Green Culture Hatchback Electric

BMW's DTM champ swaps rides with Mini's Dakar winner

BMW may not race in F1 any longer, and it doesn't compete with Audi and Porsche in the LMP1 class at Le Mans. It even shut down Mini's short-lived effort on the World Rally Championship. But that doesn't mean it doesn't race at all. In fact it's the current reigning champion both in DTM and at Dakar. So to highlight its varied motorsport programs, the German automaker had two of its top drivers swap rides. German driver Martin Tomczyk, who won the DTM title in 2011 and now drives for BMW, took to Nasser Al-Attiyah's Mini All4Racing Countryman on the sand dunes of Dubai. Meanwhile the Qatari driver, who has won the Dakar Rally two times now, took to the wheel of Tomczyk's BMW M4 DTM around Oschersleben in Germany. They even repeated the game of musical chairs at Hockenheim over the weekend. If anything, the promo clip shot by Red Bull just goes to show how different the varied racing machinery can be, and the challenges posed to racing drivers switching between disciplines. But lessons aside, it's a cool clip, so check it out above. Two champions swap cockpits: Martin Tomczyk drives the MINI ALL4 Racing, Nasser Al-Attiyah the BMW M4 DTM. Munich (DE), 1st May 2015. From asphalt to sand and back again: BMW DTM driver Martin Tomczyk (DE) and MINI ALL4 Racing ace Nasser Al-Attiyah (QA) both entered unfamiliar territory and took each other's cars for a test drive. As part of a video shoot for BMW Motorsport Premium Partner Red Bull in Dubai (AE), Tomczyk, a proven master of his trade on asphalt as the 2011 DTM Champion, took the wheel of the MINI ALL4 Racing, with which X-raid has won the famous Rally Dakar the last four years. During DTM testing in Oschersleben (DE), Al-Attiyah was given the opportunity to drive Tomczyk's BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM. Two wins at the Rally Dakar are just some of the successes the rally driver from Qatar has had to date. He followed up his first victory in 2011 by winning in the MINI ALL4 Racing in January 2015. "Driving the MINI ALL4 Racing through the sand and over the dunes in Dubai was a fascinating experience and was so much fun," said Tomczyk. "The car has an incredible amount of torwue – and the test in the dunes was an amazing adrenalin rush even for an experienced race driver such as myself. It's totally different to driving on a circuit.

Apple Car's latest EV secret? Magna could be its new Foxconn

There have been rumors and noises and noisey rumors about a potential EV from Apple. We certainly don't know what's true and what's not, but a new whisper says that the California computer company might be secretly working on an upcoming electric car in Berlin. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which cited "sources with knowledge," there are about 15-20 "progressive thinkers" working on the car in Berlin. FAZ comes up with a few more details for this potential EV, including that the first-gen might not be autonomous. The small car might be available by like 2019 or 2020 and that it might be available through car sharing as well as purchase. The most concrete new detail that FAZ offers up is that Apple will build the car in Germany with automotive supplier Magna. That sure does mesh well with a statement from Magna CEO Don Walker from last year, when he said: We are, in my opinion, the best contract manufacturer in the world. [With] our ability to do small-volume niche vehicle production and help with the engineering and the launch and the procurement ... we'd be a logical person for anybody if they have small volume or [are] a new entrant coming out. Plus, it's not like Apple CEO Tim Cook understands auto manufacturing and already uses outside help like Foxconn to build its computer products. Lyle Dennis, who now runs Apple Car Fans, told AutoblogGreen that he thinks this rumor about the Germany connection is true. "I suspect this is real," he said. "There have been discussions between Apple and BMW. It wouldn't surprise me if they did build the Apple car there." Well, maybe those discussions happened and maybe they didn't.Related Video: News Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung via Apple Car Fans Green Rumormill BMW Electric Magna project titan