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Mini Vision Next 100 Concept: It's the autonomy, stupid

The concepts that Mini and Rolls-Royce showed off today – the Vision Next 100 Concept and 103EX, respectively – are all about autonomy. The Rolls-Royce doesn't even have a place for a "driver." And even though both are very much blue sky concepts, corporate parent BMW thinks it will make fully-autonomous cars within the next five years. That's according to Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, MINI, BMW Motorrad, Rolls-Royce, and Aftersales BMW Group, who also told us that both cars, at least in concept, are fully electric. The Rolls-Royce has dual-drive, 250kw motors mounted fore-and aft, on front and rear axles. While the Rolls is clearly a luxury concept for the monied few, the Mini is very much focused on a shared economy. Holger Hampf, Head of User Experience, BMW Group, said the chief design challenge of a car-sharing world is producing a car that could in theory mean different things to different borrowers. You get exclusivity because each car would morph according to the borrower's desires. BMW/Mini already have a car-sharing program in London called DriveNow, and a pilot program in Seattle called ReachNow, focused on the idea of shared exclusivity. ReachNow, which allows Mini/BMW owners to lend their cars out in an AirBnB-type scheme or to borrow "fleet-style cars," are immutable – however the car that was ordered is what the borrower or the owner will get. That's great if you're the owner, but it's also challenging for both anyone who'd buy that car used or for anyone borrowing the car. And if the future of most cars is a shared model (Ford is now offering multi-person leases among up to six buyers in a pilot program in Austin, Texas), customization is impossible. The result is what Schwarzenbauer derogatorily calls "normed." He says carmakers have to relearn to brand for a world where ownership is devalued but customization is key. To that end the MINI VISION NEXT 100 is "skinned." We've seen this before with the BMW NEXT concept that was revealed at the NY Auto Show this past spring, and the idea is to use the exterior of the car as a canvass that changes according to setting. Indeed Mini envisions that in a multi-driver household, the vehicle's customization could easily include changing colors according to driver preference – automatically. Dr.

Honda scores big in Automobile Advertising of the Year Awards [w/videos]

This year the Detroit Auto Show didn't just celebrate the automobile, it celebrated how we find out about the automobile, too. Partnering The One Club, this year introduced the 2014 One Show Automobile Advertising of the Year Award to Cobo Hall, celebrating winners in five different categories of advertising: broadcast television, online, interactive, experiential, and print/outdoor. Winners in those categories were judged by 50 creative directors and journalists, while a Public Choice category was chosen from among nearly 20,000 online votes.
Honda walked off with three of the six awards, its Hands spot taking Broadcast honors, its Sound of Honda getting the Online category and Illusions winning Public Choice. Hyundai made the grade in Interactive with Driveway Decision Maker, Fiat captured Print/Outdoor with its "Letters" ad, and Toyota's Tundra Endeavor Campaign spot and BMW's A Window into the Near Future were co-winners for Experiential.
You can watch all of the press release and winning videos below or check out all of the finalists, announced last month, for a refresher.

Apple Car's latest EV secret? Magna could be its new Foxconn

There have been rumors and noises and noisey rumors about a potential EV from Apple. We certainly don't know what's true and what's not, but a new whisper says that the California computer company might be secretly working on an upcoming electric car in Berlin. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which cited "sources with knowledge," there are about 15-20 "progressive thinkers" working on the car in Berlin. FAZ comes up with a few more details for this potential EV, including that the first-gen might not be autonomous. The small car might be available by like 2019 or 2020 and that it might be available through car sharing as well as purchase. The most concrete new detail that FAZ offers up is that Apple will build the car in Germany with automotive supplier Magna. That sure does mesh well with a statement from Magna CEO Don Walker from last year, when he said: We are, in my opinion, the best contract manufacturer in the world. [With] our ability to do small-volume niche vehicle production and help with the engineering and the launch and the procurement ... we'd be a logical person for anybody if they have small volume or [are] a new entrant coming out. Plus, it's not like Apple CEO Tim Cook understands auto manufacturing and already uses outside help like Foxconn to build its computer products. Lyle Dennis, who now runs Apple Car Fans, told AutoblogGreen that he thinks this rumor about the Germany connection is true. "I suspect this is real," he said. "There have been discussions between Apple and BMW. It wouldn't surprise me if they did build the Apple car there." Well, maybe those discussions happened and maybe they didn't.Related Video: News Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung via Apple Car Fans Green Rumormill BMW Electric Magna project titan