First BMW i8 for US to be auctioned at Pebble Beach

The Frozen Grey BMW i8 for Pebble Beach The other end of the scale from BMW’s i3 City Car is the BMW i8 Supercar and, despite its modest 1.5 litre range-extender engine for its electric propulsion it seems to offer proper borderline supercar performance. With just an estimated 500 BMW i8s heading for the US this year, BMW has decided it would be a bit of a wheeze to produce a one-off i8 for the US market to plonk in Gooding and Co’s auction at Pebble Beach in August to give one lucky American buyer the chance to jump the queue for the i8 and inject some funds in to Pebble. So they’ve created a special i8 for Pebble which comes with a Frozen Grey Metallic paint job and a titivated interior with Dalbergia Brown Leather upholstery that’s been dyed using plant extracts – all very ‘Green’ – with BMW i Blue for the stitching and highlights.

Winners announced in Chinese Auto Design Awards 2011

Winners in the fourth Chinese Auto Design Awards have finally been announced. Held at the China Agriculture Film and Television Center in Beijing, the glamourous ceremony saw awards given to two groups; students and automotive manufacturers. Amongst the automotive groups, it was GAC Trumpchi that was awarded the ‘Best Design Innovation Award', whilst Buick's picked up the ‘Golden Dot Award' for its ‘Envision' concept car.

Ford Fiesta ECOnetic: On the Drive

We test the new Ford Fiesta ECOnetic to see if it's as 'Green' as it seems But how good would it actually be to live with? We all know that headline fuel consumptions can be misleading, but was this new ‘Eco’ Fiesta really all that economical? We’d had numerous emails and comments after that first drive, all saying basically the same thing: Yes, it headlines at 76mpg, but what will it do in the real world?