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Recharge Wrap-up: Renault ZOE wins Zenn Monte-Carlo Rally, BC revives EV rebates

Renault ZOE EVs took the top four places in the 2015 ZENN Monte-Carlo Rally. Renault's cars finished first in consumption, regularity and overall standings. ZOEs took the top four spots overall and in the regularity tests, and the top five places for consumption. Renault entered four teams - two with professional drivers (finishing first and second), one piloted by journalists (placing third) and another by bloggers (taking seventh place). Another individual team entered the race with their own ZOE and finished fourth overall. The electric vehicle race took place over 130 miles and seven and a half hours. Read more in the press release from Renault below. British Columbia has reinstated its Clean Energy Vehicle Incentive Program. Phase two of the program, which starts April 1, is expected to put another 1,700 plug-in cars on BC roads. It's funded by the province's Innovative Clean Energy Fund, which gets its money from carbon taxes. Customers can receive rebates of up to C$5,000 for EVs, while fuel cell vehicle customers could get back up to C$6,000. Drivers can also get up to $C3,250 for scrapping cars built before 2000. BC is also investing in more charging infrastructure, EV fleets and outreach. See the video above, and read more from British Columbia government website and at Green Car Reports. BMW is noticing increased sales of its i3 EV tied to government incentives for electric cars. "We can see a clear connection between sales figures and political initiatives," says BMW Group CEO Norbert Reithofer. "Wherever governments offer tangible incentives for e-mobility, the registration figures for the BMW i3 soar." Last year, BMW sold about 2,000 i3s in Norway and 3,000 in California. In Germany, where BMW only sold about 2,100 i3s, Riethofer suggests the government needs to do more to support clean cars. "The German carmakers have delivered their part of the bargain. The ball is in now in the court of policymakers," he says. Read more at Automotive News Europe. Renault ZOE takes the top four places in the 6th ZENN Monte-Carlo Rally Following a sparkling victory last year, Renault ZOE has put in yet another remarkable performance at the 2015 ZENN Monte-Carlo Rally with four ZOE models taking the top four spots.

Dinan S3-R BMW 1M Coupe

I nearly shed tears a few years ago upon learning that BMW was only planning to produce a very limited quantity of its then-new 2011 1 Series M Coupe. In simplest terms, the two-door was a 1 Series fitted with a modified version of the automaker's twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, and the running gear (gearbox, driveshaft, axles) from contemporary M3 models. It was also a return to form for the brand. Aggressively short and stubby in stature but packing telltale flared wheel arches that hinted at its potential, the four-seater was a spiritual successor to the original (and much loved) E30 M3 from decades earlier.
After spending a day with the original high-performance 1 at New York's Monticello Motor Club, I declared, "The little coupe with the big flares is old-school retro cool and deliciously fun to drive ... the new BMW 1 Series M Coupe doesn't target boy-racers, it targets enthusiasts." Yet sadly - and despite strong demand - BMW limited the model's production to just one year. All told, only 740 units made it to the States, and each was gobbled up at a starting price of $46,135, a price tag history will show to be a bargain.
Since I had little hope of even driving one again, I deliberately pushed all memories of BMW's 1 Series M Coupe from my mind - until my phone rang recently. On the other end was a representative from Dinan Engineering who wanted to know if I would be interested in driving the company's new S3-R BMW 1M. A quick Google search revealed it to be a heavily modified version of the discontinued 1 Series M Coupe. As if they needed an answer...

World Car of the Year finalists announced

To say the 2014 Geneva Motor Show was packed full of news is an understatement as big as the show's home at the Palexpo convention center. Despite everything that we were able to cover during this year's show, there's still more coming out of Switzerland, including the announcement of the finalists for the 2014 World Car of the Year Awards.
We reported on the original list of finalists over three weeks ago, and now, that initial list has been pared down to three finalists for each of the five awards. The finalists were announced at a press conference by frequent Autoblog contributor and co-chair of the awards, Matt Davis (above).
The finalists for the overall title of 2014 World Car of the Year are the Audi A3, the BMW 4 Series and the Mazda3. The World Luxury Car of the Year will be either the Bentley Flying Spur, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class or the Land Rover Range Rover Sport, while the Performance Car of the Year will be awarded to the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the Ferrari 458 Speciale or the Porsche 911 GT3 (which, um, yeah...).