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BMW i3 will come with unusual 'OwnersChoice' non-lease option

In case you were interested in driving a BMW i3 but were afraid of getting into a traditional lease, there's some good new for you. We think. BMW recently announced that it would offer something called "OwnersChoice" and "OwnersChoice with Flex" to make the elegant city EV an easier purchase. Or temporary purchase, anyway. Something called "OwnersChoice with Flex" is not listed on the federal government's consumer information page on vehicle financing and we couldn't get a better explanation out of BMW than the official announcement, but the gist appears to be that an i3 buyer can make a gigantic balloon payment at the end of the contract term in order to pay less in monthly costs along the way. The way Automotive News describes it, the typical balloon note chains the buyer to the car in such a way that, while you can get lower monthly payments, you're still on the hook for the amount of the financing even if you return the car. With OwnersChoice, if you give the i3 back after the contract is done (usually after three years), you're in the clear. With OwnersChoice with Flex, you need to pay up no matter if you keep the car or not, but you can take the $7,500 federal tax incentive and increase your balloon payment by - let's see here, what's the amount? ah, yes - up to $7,500, which would knock $208 (7,500 divided by 36) off your payment every month. BMW Group Financial Services (GFS) came up with this new lease/payment hybrid thing, and Fred Isele, BMW GFS vp of sales and marketing, says it lets owners get, "a comfortable payment for one of the highest technological and efficient premium electric vehicles available to date." BMW GROUP FINANCIAL SERVICES OFFERS 'OWNERSCHOICE WITH FLEX' FINANCING PRODUCT WITH PURCHASE OF NEW i3 -- PROVIDES END-OF-TERM OPTIONS SIMILAR TO LEASING, YET BENEFITS OF OWNERSHIP WOODCLIFF LAKE, NJ – February 25, 2014 – With the launch of the BMW i3, the brand's first premium electric vehicle, BMW Group Financial Services becomes one of the first in the industry to create a financial solution to ownership that provides eligible customers with the options to lower their monthly payment and return the vehicle at the end of their contract term. The financing product called 'OwnersChoice with Flex,' provides eligible BMW i3 customers the option to increase their final OwnerChoice balloon payment due at the end of their contract term by up to $7,500.

BMW restores classic Mini as it revives production in Netherlands

Mini will be kicking off production in the Netherlands, a country that hasn't built a Mini-badged machine since 1966. In honor of this event, BMW Group Classic, the team responsible for all the cars in the BMW Museum, as well as being a spare parts and restoration company in its own right, revived a classic 1959 Austin Seven. That particular car, number 983, was one of the first Minis to be built in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands' JJ Molenaar's Car Companies built 4,000 Austin Sevens and Morris Mini-Minors between 1959 and 1966, although we imagine Dutch Mini production will be much bigger when it starts up again in summer 2014. A five-person team from VDL Nedcar, the group handling production of new Minis, took to the job of restoring the diminutive British car from nose to tail.
The 34-horsepower engine and the transmission were both completely rebuilt, while the door panels were redone by hand. Help from the Mini community aided the VDL Nedcar team in finding authentic replicas or original parts where possible. All told, the new classic Mini is a striking example of what a good restoration can do to a car. The Seven was repainted in its original Farina Gray, adding to the car's sense of authenticity.

BMW sets Guinness record for longest drift with new M5 [w/video]

In September of 2011, Chinese drifter Wang Qi broke the Guinness record for the world's longest sustained drift, doing 13 laps inside the Olympic Center Stadium in Tianlin, China for 5,802.3 meters. That was broken in February of this year by Abdo Feghali in Abu Dhabi drifting a new Chevrolet Camaro around a skidpad for 11,180 meters - almost seven miles. In March, BMW decided it wanted the record "back in the US," and set up a course at its BMW Performance Driving School near Greenville, South Carolina to get the job done. On May, 11 it was Mission Accomplished when Performance Center driver Johan Schwartz drifted an M5 around a skidpad continuously for 51.3 miles.
Despite that accomplishment, we're pretty sure that professional drifter Vaughn Gittin, Jr. isn't impressed. The way Guinness defines "drifting" can also describe a donut, which is effectively the kind of drifting that's been done for these last three records. BMW went even further by watering down the surface of the track, reducing the skill required and the need to change tires during the effort. On the other hand, you can't drift a car for long in a straight line, but perhaps there should be some clarification or classifications added to the milestones.
There's a short video below taken during the record-breaking run, and a press release from the company that did it.