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Recharge Wrap-up: Venturi to break electric world record, app shows where bike lanes are needed

Electric automaker Venturi hopes to post a new electric land speed record this week, despite Bonneville Speed Week being cancelled. The VBB-3, developed with Ohio State University, is powered by two 1,500-hp electric motors. If the salt flats are sufficiently dry, the team hopes to set a new electric world speed record of over 600 kilometers per hour (373 mph), and possibly 700 kph (435 mph). The Venturi BB-2.5 set a record of 495 kph (307 mph) in 2010. Read more at Electric Autosport, and keep abreast of Venturi's progress at its Twitter account. A new app is trying to fix Wiesbaden, Germany's bike problem. A bike organization named the city the worst in the world for cycling. In response, a local group developed an app that uses crowdsourced routes to suggest where bike lanes and paths should go. The app tracks users routes as they ride, and maps them to show where the city could benefit from improving its infrastructure. The app and its results have the attention of government officials, too. See the video below, or read more at Fast Company. BMW has delivered the first i8s at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California. The first customers include Roger Penske, Rick Hendrick and Tony Fadell (founder and CEO of Nest). The lucky new owners were also treated to a gourmet meal from Chef Thomas Keller, who was also among those to receive the i8 at the event. As mentioned, BMW also auctioned off a special edition i8 at Pebble Beach for $825,000, considerably more than the car's base MSRP of $135,700. Read more in the press release from BMW, below. Uber's Berlin ban has been suspended by a local court. The city banned the car-hailing app for failing to meet passenger safety standards. The court will now decide whether to uphold the ban or toss it out. This was the second time this year that Uber had been deemed unlawful in Berlin. Uber continued to operate throughout its ban, despite threats of fines. If upheld, Uber could be fined $34,000 for picking up a passenger. Read more at The New York Times. BMW Delivers First BMW i8 Sports Cars in the U.S. at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Chef Thomas Keller, Roger Penske and Rick Hendrick Among the First to Take Delivery of the Revolutionary BMW i8 Plug-In Hybrid. Woodcliff Lake, NJ – August 15, 2014... Today, BMW delivered the first plug-in hybrid BMW i8 sport cars at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the world's premier celebration of the automobile, in Carmel, Calif.

BMW Films are on the way back [w/videos]

The BMW Films series caused a stir in 2001 and 2002 by combining top-quality cinematography, Hollywood names and driving excitement to sell its sporty wares in a whole new way. By arriving five years before YouTube, they ranked as some of the earliest viral videos on the internet. By now, these sorts of films are almost commonplace, but back when BMW hit upon the idea, the idea of brand-integrated short films on the internet was still a novelty. Now, for the first time in over a decade, the German automaker is planning on bringing back BMW Films for a new season.
Trudy Hardy, BMW North America Vice President of Marketing, announced the series' return at the 2014 Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, according to Ad Age. However, neither the German brand nor Anonymous Content, the original production company, have been willing to comment further on when the new videos are coming.
The original series of eight films starred Clive Owen as the Driver (back then, Owen was largely unknown to American audiences), a mercenary who would take a variety of jobs and always drive a BMW. David Fincher executive produced the first season and directors included top names like John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee and Guy Ritchie. All of the second season movies had Owen driving a Z4, but in our estimation, the quality had fallen off a bit compared to the outstanding first season.

Mini might build a sedan because it's running out of shapes

Rumors suggest we could soon see a Mini with a trunk to haul your junk. Autocar cites unnamed insiders who claim the sedan is part of the brand's plan for upmarket growth. There's even a possibility the new model could use the Riley moniker in reference to the Elf (pictured above) from the 1960s, which was a Mini with a tiny trunk. The Mini sedan would use BMW's front-wheel-drive platform that underpins the X1 and Clubman and might share the wheelbase and frontend styling with the Clubman as well, according to Autocar. Mini's execs think the four-door would perform especially well in North America and China, where there's less demand for hatchbacks. Ralph Mahler, vice president of Mini's product management, hinted at the possibility of the four-door to Autocar. "For example, in Asia and the US, the sedan segment is very big. This is very interesting to us, of course," he said. Mahler admits that many people don't know about the Mini-based vehicles with trunks from the '60s, like the Riley Elf, so it would be hard to market the new model on that heritage. This could be the perfect time to add a Mini sedan to the lineup, and it might not be a completely new idea for the brand under its BMW stewardship; a rumor from 2012 shows that Mini's bosses considered a four-door at least once before. The company launched new versions of its Hardtop, Convertible, and Clubman, and even added four-door and all-wheel-drive versions of the Hardtop to further blur the lines between that car, the Clubman, and the Countryman. The next-generation Countryman crossover should debut later this year, and the brand reportedly cancelled the Superleggera Vision roadster and Rocketman compact, as Mini has chosen to go big with its new models and its lineup breadth. There are only so many versions of a hatchback a company can make, and the short-lived Mini Coupe wasn't exactly a huge success. If Mini is going to try a new body style, a sedan actually makes some sense, even if we'll probably prefer the look and practicality of the hatches. Related Video: