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BMW preparing two concepts for Villa d'Este

Every spring, the finest automobiles ever to grace tarmac gather on the shores of Lake Como for the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. It's a chance for the most beautiful classics to compete for awards and for automakers and design studios to show off their concept cars under the soft light of the Italian sun. But while most of the vehicles old and new that show up for the concours are ones we've seen before, BMW takes things a step further.
As patron of the concorso d'eleganza for the past ten years, BMW regularly cooks up something new for the glamorous extravaganza. Last year it teamed up with Pininfarina for the Gran Lusso Coupé and revealed it alongside the Concept 90 motorcycle. The year before that came the BMW Zagato Coupe, preceded by the 328 Hommage and the M1 Hommage (pictured above) before it.
The theme for this year's event is the Roaring Twenties. BMW may not have been known back then on the same level as Bugatti or Duesenberg, but Rolls-Royce sure was.

The Silver Spectre is a custom shooting brake based on the Rolls Wraith

The Rolls-Royce Wraith coupe undergoes a long-roof transformation in this custom by Niels Van Roij Design, and the result takes the name Silver Spectre Shooting Brake. It turns out the Wraith looks particularly fetching as a shooting brake, as these pictures attest. The Dutch-based automotive designer's firm previously built a Tesla Model S shooting brake for a wealthy Dutch collector and also built a spate of two-door Range Rovers, the Adventum Coupe, after the factory canceled the project. Aristocratic long-roofs seem to be their speciality. The Silver Spectre is custom-bodied from the A-pillars rearward. The roof is constructed from a single piece of carbon-fiber composite. The elongated custom side glass is accentuated with silver trim. The bustle-back liftgate is claimed to take its inspiration from "Anglian limousines of the 1950s and 1960s" and features inset glass. The sculpted forms are set off by the deeply metallic brown paint, which has nearly the level of metal flake used in bass boats. Inside, there are individual rear seats, and the available fiber-optic starlight headliner extends fully rearward. The leather-lined rear compartment is the perfect perch for the most pampered pooch — purebred Corgis, perhaps? Under the hood, the 6.6-liter V12 is massaged to deliver 700 horsepower (up from 624) and 664 pound-feet of torque (compared to 605). Each Silver Spectre will be individually kitted out with a unique exterior paint treatment (single color or two-tone), leather or silk upholstery, and a special custom interior element specific to that vehicle (such as a matching picnic hamper). If you like what you see, best get your order in soon, since only seven will be built. Related Video:

Recharge Wrap-up: Smart metals, OTA updates, Rolls-Royce LNG ship

"Smart" metals could help engines reduce emissions and invigorate US business. Metallurgist and University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee professor Pradeep Rohatgi combines known metal alloys with materials like ceramics, nanoparticles, and recycled waste to produce strong, lightweight composites with self-lubricating properties that help internal combustion engines run more efficiently. Rohatgi hopes his startup, Intelligent Composites, and its products can help US foundries compete with production outsourced overseas. See the video above, and read more at Phys.org. Almost 203 million cars will be capable of over-the-air (OTA) updates by 2022, according to ABI research. While Tesla has the OTA firmware updates nailed down, other automakers will focus on software update capability. This will take the place of dealer-installed updates and - like Chrysler did after the Jeep hacking incident - updates sent to owners via USB drives. OTA updates will enhance vehicle security and reduce recall rates. Read more at Green Car Congress. European bus manufacturers have agreed upon a standardized charging interface for their electric buses. Irizar, Solaris, VDL and Volvo will use pantograph charging for "opportunity charging" and CCS plugs as the base for overnight charging and network communication. The manufacturers hope other bus makers and charging providers to join them in cooperation over standardized charging. Read more at Green Car Congress. The second Audi Autonomous Driving Cup will take place from March 22 to 24, 2016 at the automaker's Museum Mobile in Ingolstadt, Germany. The competition involves eight university teams implementing basic Audi software in 1:8 scale electric Audi Q5 models, and putting them through the paces of simulated real-world driving situations. The teams develop software architecture to use the suite of sensor to have the cars drive, park, maneuver in traffic and perform emergency braking autonomously. Teams also perform a freestyle event where they put the car through an additional task of their choosing. The winning team gets ˆ10,000, with smaller prizes for second and third place. The competition also gives the students the opportunity to showcase their skills in front of a potential employer. Read more at Green Car Congress. Rolls-Royce will provide the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) propulsion for an NSK cargo ship carrying fish food. The ship will deliver 2,700 metric tons of fish food to fish farms along the Norwegian coast.