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Alex Zanardi back in the driver's seat with BMW

If there's ever been an inspirational story in the pantheon of motor racing history, surely it's that of Alessandro Zanardi. The Italian driver worked his way up the motor racing ladder, making it into Formula One and winning two CART championships for Chip Ganassi Racing back before the series re-merged into IndyCars. Tragedy struck in 2001 when he lost both his legs in a crash at the Lausitzring in Germany, but rather than accept his fate, Alex pushed on. Fitted with prosthetic limbs, he learned to drive a racing car with hand controls and got back in the driver's seat.
Zanardi drove for BMW in the European Touring Car Championship and then in the World Touring Car Championship that replaced it, landing on the podium several times despite his physical disadvantage. He left racing in 2009 to train for the Paralympics, winning two gold medals in London, but Alex apparently couldn't shake the racing bug. BMW modified one of its M3 DTM racers with hand controls for him to test later that year. And now he's returning to motor racing full time.
BMW has just announced that Zanardi will be driving a Z4 GT3 in the Blancpain Sprint Series, the successor to the FIA GT Series and short-distance counterpart to the Blancpain Endurance Series. The car has been modified with the hand controls the Bavarian automaker's racing department fitted to the aforementioned M3 DTM and will be fielded by the ROAL Motorsport team with which Alex challenged for the European Touring Car Championship last decade.

A closer look at the 2015 BMW M3 and M4

It's fair to say we're going to miss the E92 BMW M3. Its high-revving V8, flame-styled looks and excellent driving character made it quite simply one of the best cars of the 2000s. Its replacements, the new M3 Sedan and M4 Coupe have a lot to live up to.
We still have a few months to wait until we can drive the new cars, but that doesn't mean we can't get excited in the meantime, learning everything we can. To find out, we sent west coast editor Michael Harley onto the Detroit Auto Show floor earlier this week to talk about the new M cars with BMW product manager Victor Leleu.
If you want a concise, but highly informative rundown of these new cars, look no further than this video. Leleu talks about the styling, weight savings and engines in a lot of detail, making this an interview M fans aren't going to want to miss. Scroll down for the full video.

BMW i3 qualifies for both green and white HOV stickers in California

BMW buyers tend to have enough cash on hand to be buffered from the concept of "sticker shock," but the term may take on a different meaning when it comes to the German automaker's i3 plug-in vehicle and its classification by California clean-air regulators. The first i3 EVs are set to be sold in May, and some are questioning if the new car will be eligible for the state's white stickers or green High-Occupancy Vehicle lane stickers, both of which allow for solo-occupancy in HOV lanes. California gives out white stickers to some types of battery-electric vehicles, compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, and there's currently no limit on the number that can be given out. The green stickers, which are applied to other battery electrics as well as some plug-in hybrids, are limited (there are currently about 15,000 left) and will likely run out within the next year or two. The i3's status is uncertain because of it has an optional gas-powered range-extender. Jacob Harb, head of electric vehicle operations and strategy for BMW, told AutoblogGreen that it's not all that complicated. The pure electric version of the i3 will get the white sticker, the REx version will get the green sticker. He also said that both will qualify for the $2,500 state incentive in California and the $7,500 federal tax credit available in all 50 states (For what it's worth, Green Car Reports says the REx version will only get $1,500 from California). Read Autoblog's First Drive impressions of the i3 here.

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.

2014 BMW 2 Series configurator drifts online

Monday marked the official, live unveiling of the 2014 BMW 2 Series. Not a company to rest on its laurels, BMW has unveiled the online configurator for the replacement to the much-loved 1 Series. Potential customers can select from either the 228i or go all-out and get the M235i. We shouldn't have to explain which car we've been building all day.
As a recap, a base 228i starts at $32,100 not counting a $925 destination charge. It includes 240 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque and, when optioned with the six-speed manual rather than the eight-speed automatic, a perfect 50/50 weight distribution (the 8AT balances at 50.3 in front and 49.7 in back). The M235i, meanwhile, starts at $43,100 (although you can't actually buy one for that, because the configurator forces you into a $1,450 Dakota leather interior). It offers up significantly more grunt, with 320 hp and 320 lb-ft from its 3.0-liter, turbocharged straight six.
Click over to the configurator and play around.

BMW confirms limited i3 Electronaut Edition, says i5* is in development [UPDATE]

Jacob Harb, head of electric vehicle operations and strategy for BMW, is excited these days. He's got a lot to sort out as the company's first large-scale production electric vehicle, the i3. Extending Electronaut leases, arranging tens of thousands of EV test drives and making sure there will be enough of the little city cars in the US when customer deliveries will start in May. Oh, and he's already working on the next BMW EV, which we think is likely to be the i5. During the Detroit Auto Show this week, Harb declined to name the model (surprise) but he did tell AutoblogGreen, "You can probably take an educated guess at the next thought process, something a little bigger, maybe a little more range, relative to the i3. We've got everything trademarked and we're exploring the best, next iteration. It is coming. It's in development now." [See update below.] An i5 has been rumored for years, but Harb said he's flying to Munich next week to "start the discussions further" on BMW's next-gen EVs. The Electronaut Edition i3 is "a thank you to them for being part of this broad journey with us" - BMW's Jacob Harb But there's much more to do, given the upcoming i3 launch. For one thing, leases for the first participants in BMW's Active E electronaut program - which started in January 20121 - will end in the next week or so, and those who want to get an i3 – and an "overwhelming majority" have said they are interested - may get their leases extended so they don't have to revert back to a gas car in the meantime. BMW dealers will be able to start ordering the i3 in "the next few days" and the Active E Electronauts will get the first of those cars off the production line, "as a thank you to them for being part of this broad journey with us," Harb said. There will also be a special Electronaut Edition of the i3, that will be upgraded from the standard i3 at not cost. Harb wouldn't say what's different, just that the "options and features" will serve to identify the car from the outside. It will be "as unique and compelling as possible," he said, with details coming in the next few weeks. The i3 is already on sale in Europe, the company won't start making US-bound vehicles until March. Since there are no official i3 orders in the system yet, Harb didn't know exactly what the split will be between pure EV and the range extender version, but that his estimate is 50/50. He also wouldn't talk about production numbers, but did say that.

2015 BMW M3 and M4 priced at $62,000 and $64,200

When the BMW M3 and M4 debuted on Monday at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, it was to much fanfare and excitement. At that time, though, we were missing a big piece of the M3/M4 puzzle - the price.
According to a report from our roundel-obsessed friends at Bimmerfest, the four-door M3 will star at $62,000, while the M4 Coupe is priced at $64,200. Those prices do not include a $925 destination charge. That's a pretty significant jump over the $56,275 starting price of the old M3 Sedan and $59,275 starting price of the last M3 Coupe, although we'd argue that these cars should easily outpace their V8 counterparts in terms of overall performance. In other news, a six-speed manual will come standard, while the seven-speed M DCT will be an optional extra.
Bimmerfest also came up with a timeline for the M3 and M4's arrival. We should expect the official announcement of pricing, along with the full order guides, released near the end of this month or in early February. Production will kick off in March, while customers will be able to begin placing orders in late April. We'll get our first crack at both cars in June, with deliveries beginning later that month.

TRANSLOGIC 147: CES 2014 Autonomous Vehicles

We head back to CES in Las Vegas to check on the progress of autonomous vehicles in 2014. We go hands-free on the highway with Audi, narrowly avoid a collision with Ford and hear all about BMW's drifting driverless car. But first we take a ride on Induct's self-driving Navia shuttle.

2015 BMW M4 Coupe ditches some doors, gains some grunt

If you saw our earlier post about the hot new BMW M3 Sedan and were about to call blasphemy for no coupe version, just settle down, silly. Remember: BMW now badges its two-door 3 Series models with the number four, and thus, meet the 2015 M4 Coupe. Looks hot, right?
So yeah, it's pretty much just the M3 with two less doors, but that doesn't make it any less important - or potent. Power comes from a turbocharged, 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder engine, sending 425 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels via either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. You know, the usual.
Not only is the M4 more powerful than the M3 Coupe it replaces, it's a good deal lighter, too. BMW has managed to cut 176 pounds of weight out of the M4, and that means, with the increased output numbers, that the M4 will scoot to 60 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds with the DCT or 4.1 seconds with the do-it-yourself tranny. Either way, that's not what we'd call slow.

2014 BMW M235i is your Diet M4

Alongside its big brothers, the M3 and M4, the new M235i was rolled out by BMW at the Detroit Auto Show today as the sportiest member of the 2 Series range. The sharp two-door is the replacement for the current 1 Series, meaning the M235i is more or less the equivalent of the old 135is. Underhood sits BMW's venerable 3.0-liter, turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine, complete with 322 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. Power is, naturally, sent to the rear wheels via either a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic, allowing the M235i to hit 62 miles per hour in 4.8 seconds when optioned with the automatic. Prices start at $43,100, meaning the M235i should give the $47,450 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG a real challenge in terms of cluck for the buck, provided a second set of doors isn't needed. We've got a full gallery of live images from the floor of the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, along with the stock gallery and BMW's press release from our original post on the 2 Series. Scroll up for the former and down for the latter. The All-New BMW 2 Series Coupe A new dimension for The Ultimate Driving Machine Woodcliff Lake, N.J. – October 24, 2013 – 6:00pm EDT/3:00pm PDT. . . BMW today announced the introduction of an entirely new model series with the introduction of the all-new BMW 2 Series Coupe. This new take on The Ultimate Driving MachineTM will arrive in the US in the first quarter of 2014 as the 228i and the M235i. The BMW M235i, the first M Performance Automobile offered in the US, includes an impressive list of performance enhancing features. This successor to the successful 1 Series Coupe will continue the decades-long tradition of premium sub-compact coupes with impeccable driving dynamics when it makes its world debut at the North American International Auto Show in January 2014. The 2014 BMW 2 Series Coupe will be offered at a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $33,025 for the 228i and $44,025 for the M235i, including $925 destination and handling.