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Gus Van Sant casts the BMW i8 in soft light

BMW has spent the better part of a century building its reputation with fossil-burning transportation, but now it's banking heavily on the success of its new i family of electric vehicles. In order to succeed, it will need to sell examples of the i3, but sell the idea with the i8. And in order to do so, it is going to need some out-of-the-box promotional thinking. And that's just what it seems to have done with this latest campaign of television commercials.
The series of three (or at least that's how many have been released thus far) ads wax more poetic than most of the car ads we've seen. But while they might skimp on the technical details, they don't skip over the talent. The videos are the work of Oscar-nominated director Gus Van Sant, the cinematic artist best known for films like Good Will Hunting, Milk and Finding Forrester.
Van Sant has also solicited the voices of Sam Hazeldine (Caleb from Resurrection), Sting's daughter Mickey Sumner (Sophie from Frances Ha) and Michael Pitt (Jimmy from Boardwalk Empire), but doesn't hide them behind the microphone in the recording studio. Instead they serve as the face of Bavaria's new hybrid sports car, and the results are rather stunning. See for yourself in the trio of videos below.

Coming Toyota Supra to forgo hybrid, get a BMW six-cylinder turbo?

For years, almost all of the talk about the Toyota FT-1 concept becoming a resurrected Supra envisioned a hybrid under the hood. And then the latest take on Future Toyota 1 showed up at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show and - although Toyota wouldn't say a word about any engine at all - horizons began to expand. Imaginary fancies were aided by the news that Toyota had partnered with BMW to develop a sports car on the next-generation BMW Z4 platform, which would necessarily mean an engine bay designed to accept an old-fashioned hunk of gas-burning iron-working solo. Car and Driver now turns the whole thing around, reporting that there will be an inline-six with forced induction provided by BMW under the hood. What about that hybrid, though? The report states, "there's currently no indication that the Silk Road cars will offer hybrid options" - 'Silk Road' being the codename for the jointly-developed vehicles. CD makes a point to note that said tidbit came from Germany, not Japan. However, designers at Toyota's Calty studio did tell Automotive News last year that they designed the body with an inline-six in mind, a nod to the Supra's history. Hybrid rumors aren't dead yet, though - remember, we were hearing about all-wheel drive and supercapacitors in May 2014. The coupe is predicted to be a 2018 model, making its appearance sometime in 2017, and be "about 10 percent" smaller than the FT-1 concept. Related Video:

British automakers take costly precautions as Brexit 'no deal' fears grow

LONDON — Carmakers in Britain have triggered some Brexit contingency plans, such as certifying models in the EU, and are working on redrawing production schedules and stockpiling more parts to defend against any loss of unfettered trade after Brexit. The moves are aimed at ensuring plants, which rely on the just-in-time delivery of tens of thousands of components, can keep operating after Brexit on March 29, but will add costs and bureaucracy which could risk their long-term viability. London and Brussels hope to agree a deal by the end of the year to avoid tariffs and trade barriers, but Prime Minister Theresa May's proposals have been criticized by both Brexiteers, who want a cleaner break from the bloc, and the European Union. McLaren Automotive is looking at having its cars certified by both a British and an EU agency to smooth sales. It is also planning to stockpile critical components and change shipments into the EU around Brexit if there is disruption. "I will sell a little more in January and February and plan to pick the volume up in May and give us a leaner period through the change point," Chief Executive Mike Flewitt told Reuters. BMW, which said last week it would move the annual summer-time shutdown of its British Mini plant next year to April, is looking for lorry parking areas and warehousing on both sides of the channel and is seeking to sign contracts to lease certain locations, a spokesman said. It is also investing in IT systems to handle any new red tape as carmakers estimate tens of thousands of new documents could be needed if tariffs and customs are imposed. The German carmaker's Brexit plans are costing millions of pounds, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. But Honda, which builds 10 percent of Britain's 1.67 million cars at its Swindon plant in southern England, is not in the market to buy "huge amounts of warehousing space," its Europe boss Ian Howells told Reuters. "It's been a very precise calculation or estimation of what components need to be brought in," he said, adding the firm could also alter its output to sell more into the EU at the start of next year. Waste of money? Many British carmakers have also asked suppliers to look into how they would handle delays at ports, executives told Reuters, as thousands of parts, engines and finished models move between Britain and the continent every day.