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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."

Ferrari 488 Special Series finally shown in official teaser video

It's been no secret that a hopped up version of the Ferrari 488 GTB is on the way. The car will follow the trend of previous models like the 458 Speciale and 430 Scuderia by reducing weight, boosting power and re-tuning the suspension and aero. Today, Ferrari itself finally gave us an official teaser on its Facebook page, and it looks like the leaked image from a few weeks back was correct. The timing of the video suggests we'll get the full breakdown in just a few weeks at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. This is just a teaser, so all the video shows is a few very brief cuts and angles of the new car. We've taken a screenshot of the front end, and it's pretty obvious that it's the car we've been following in spy shots for months now. It's blurry, but — as seen in the linked image above — it looks like there are substantial changes to the front bumper. There also appears to be a few small aero tweeks on other places, but again it's difficult to discern. What's obvious is that the blue and white stripes have made another comeback. For a while, the car was being referred to as the 488 GTO. That no longer seems to be the case, though what it will be called is unclear. In the leaked presentation, Ferrari called the car the "New V8 Sport Special Series," though something a little more romantic is likely. Look for a twin-turbo V8 making upwards of 700 horsepower, up from the standard 488 GTB's 660 horsepower rating. Stay tuned for more news in the next few weeks. Related Video:

First Ferrari 458 Speciale A sells for $900k in Beverly Hills

The prospect of buying a new Ferrari convertible is by no means an affordable one, but prices can vary greatly. The California T, for example, sells for under $200k. The 458 Spider fetches over $250k. The new F60 America is said to have sold out at around ten times that much. But what about the 458 Speciale A?
We may have yet to receive official pricing, but one customer has paid a whopping $900,000 for the privilege of owning the very first one. Ferrari 458 Speciale A #1/499 was auctioned off at Beverly Hills City Hall on the occasion of Ferrari's 60th anniversary in America. The event, where the F60 America was also unveiled, was held in the presence of Fiat chairman John Elkann, Fiat CEO and Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa and vice-chairman Piero Ferrari.
Proceeds from the sale will benefit the American chapter of Daybreak, an Italian charity that has worked for the past 25 years to cure rare genetic diseases. The high bid tops that which recently won the first Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat - another extreme eight-cylinder performance machine from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles - although the Challenger itself sells for far less than any Ferrari does.