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BMW to finally put i8 Spyder into production

The BMW i8 Spyder might finally see production. The vehicle debuted in concept form over three years ago, but despite the coupe version having long since arrived in showrooms, the convertible has been nowhere to be seen. According to the latest reports from Germany, however, that's about to change. According to Automotive News, the company's new chief executive Harald Krueger told German publication Handelsblatt that we'll soon see the BMW i8 Spyder in production form. The prospect of open-air motoring under prodigious amounts of electric power sounds enticing, however we'll have to wait and see just what sort of roof mechanism the production model incorporates. The concept had removable roof panels, however the manufacturer tends to favor automatic roof setups – hardtops in the Z4 and 4 Series, or soft tops in the 2 Series and 6 Series. Around the same time, BMW could introduce a power upgrade in the form of a larger internal combustion engine and a higher-capacity battery to go with it. A 2.0-liter turbo four is tipped to slot in where the current three-pot sits, bringing output up to a solid 450 hp – and with a longer range to boot. If those upgrades to arrive – with or independent of the open-roof version – expect them to be implemented on the coupe as well as the roadster.

BMW, Ferrari, VW cars use tungsten mined by terrorists

Bloomberg Markets is reporting that BMW, Volkswagen and Ferrari have been using tungsten ore sourced from Columbia's FARC rebel terrorists. The extensive story focuses on Columbia's illegal mining trade and calls into question the provenance of the rare ore that is used not only in crankshaft parts production, but is also found in the world's computing and telecommunications industry for use in screens.
The ore is mined by the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army), and exported to Pennsylvania, where it is refined. The refined ore is then sent over to Austria, where a company called Plansee turns it into a finished product. Now, it's important to note that we aren't talking about the world's supply of tungsten here. In 2012, Plansee's American refinery purchased 93.2 metric tons of tungsten, valued at $1.8 million. That's peanuts, with the entire Colombian tungsten mining industry producing just one percent of the world's supplies.
That doesn't make indirectly supporting FARC any more acceptable, though. BMW, VW and Ferrari are all committed to not accepting mineral supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also in the grips of a guerrilla insurrection funded, in part, by illegal mining. The same commitment would figure to extend to Colombian mining, but as BMW points out, it's difficult for a multi-national manufacturer to know where every item in its supply chain comes from. A company spokesperson says as much, telling Bloomberg, "These few grams out of the billions of tons of raw materials passing through the BMW supply chain are of no practical relevance."

There's no substitution for BMW's E30 Mmmmm3

If you told someone that you had a friend with a four-cylinder BMW who "would let me wash the car," and in exchange for the privilege then let you drive that clean BMW once around the block, your first question would probably be "What kind of BMW is this?" There's a chance you wouldn't be surprised once you found out the coupe in question was the E30 M3, a car our own Zach Bowman dubbed the "Mmmmm3."
Petrolicious talks to Gabor Mester about the car he fell in love with, a black version of the original "Munich mauler" that was owned by the parents of a high-school friend - oh, and Mester was also in high school when this washing and driving took place. When the original owners were ready to sell, Mestor was ready to buy, and he hasn't had a single regret about it since.
You can enjoy his story in his words in the video below.