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EVO takes flight in BMW's sultry i8

Electric cars and hybrids are here to stay, much to the apparent dismay of some auto enthusiasts, but that doesn't mean they have to represent the death of enjoyable driving. Granted, the initial run of hybrids in the US like the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius weren't exactly tailor-made for aggressive folks behind the wheel, but things are clearly changing. In its latest video, Evo takes a look at three examples from Europe's new crop of electrified vehicles to show that the future of fun motoring is safe and sound.
Evo editor Henry Catchpole kicks things off with one of the most bizarre EVs of the bunch, the tiny Renault Twizy. Its low power and 50-mile-per-hour top speed might make it miles away from a hot hatch, but there's still fun to be had in extracting the most from this little city car. Next up is the Audi A3 E-Tron, which isn't technically available yet. It's a step in the right direction of eventually creating an affordable, fun-to-drive hybrid hot hatch.
However, the main event is Catchpole getting some seat time in the BMW i8. The Bimmer can really fly -literally in this case - and the butterfly-door coupe offers a clear look at the prospects for electrified sports cars. It might not have the power of hybrid supercar contemporaries like the LaFerrari or Porsche 918 Spyder, but the BMW doesn't cost nearly as much, either. See? Improved efficiency doesn't have to mean boring.

BMW says this isn't an Art Car, and we fully agree

The "what is art" debate is as old as cave drawings. Or maybe it's older. That's up for discussion, but BMW says the artiness of this spaghetti-monster i3 is not. BMW found it necessary to put out a press release explaining that this pasta-decorated i3 is not only not part of its Art Car series, but also that its creator, artist Maurizio Cattelan, no longer makes art. So it definitely can't be called art, excluding it from Art Car consideration. We weren't going to accidentally call it either, though. The wrapped electric car was created for the Recontres d'Arles photography exhibition in Arles, France. They're calling it a "Spaghetti Car." Uh huh. Some choice quotes from the release: "Lest there be any confusion, it must be officially clarified that what Maurizio Cattelan created is not an official BMW Art Car. The artist's design will be destroyed according to Cattelan's wishes sometime after Rencontres d'Arles." We hope that means the wrap gets torn off and burned. There's a perfectly good i3 underneath to salvage. "Maurizio Cattelan has still officially retired from 'art' since his 2011 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, although he only recently created a toilet bowl made of solid gold for the Upper East Side institution." See also: Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" for more discussion of art/not-art. Related Gallery BMW Art Cars It sounds like Cattelan struggles more with the definition of the word "definition" than with "art." Is the irony that there is art in calling something not art? This might just be too meta for us to get. Anyway, about the only useful part of the release is a reminder that the next Art Car will be based on an M6 GT3 and is due in late 2016 or early 2017. It's currently being worked on by two people who presently consider themselves artists, John Baldessari and Cao Fei. We trust it won't be covered in food. Related Video: Green BMW Electric bmw art car

2012 Pebble Beach Concept Car Lawn offers a tutorial in cars to come

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is a showcase for some of the world's most exquisite vintage vehicles, but if newer metal is more your speed, the Concept Car Lawn is the place to be.
This year saw models from Bugatti, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, McLaren and Bentley as well as SRT, Hennessey, Infiniti and Lexus among others. The ultimate sampler platter of exotic and concept vehicles saw the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse mingle with the Lamborghini Urus Concept and the mighty Hennessey Venom GT, though we found ourselves particularly smitten with the BMW Zagato Roadster and the Aston Martin Vanquish.
Not that we could go wrong anywhere we looked. The 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed seemed perfectly content parked on the manicured putting green, as did the McLaren MP4-12C Spider. Get cozy with the full gallery below to see the smattering of metal on the lawn.