100 Ms51830a -102 Keensert 4-40 Thread Insert on 2040-parts.com

BMW i3 EV revealed. It’s clever, but it’s not exactly pretty

The BMW i3 electric city car (pictured) has been officially revealed The BMW i3 – the first of BMW’s production ‘i’ electric cars – has finally been revealed at events in London, New York and Beijing as BMW plots its course to bring a premium electric city car to the world. Looking much like the original Mega City Concept, the i3 debuts a number of innovations from BMW – which are very clever – but it also debuts perhaps the worst looking BMW we’ve ever seen, with its incongruous lines, bulging bonnet, odd shapes on the flanks and slab-backed rear view. But what underpins the i3 is clever indeed, with a lightweight inner body made from carbon fibre and carbon fibre reinforced body panels providing the skin, all conspiring to make the i3 light – 1195kg, despite 25 per cent or so of that being batteries – and very rigid.

This is the 2013 Mazda6 – a bit at a time

The first photos of the 2013 Mazda6 have been released showing the Takeri concept inspired Mazda6 before its Moscow Motor Show debut. The 2013 Mazda 6 has been teased by Mazda in a series of short videos (although they were all so pointless we only ran the first one) and now Mazda has released the first official photos of the new Mazda6 ahead of its debut next month at the Moscow Motor Show. But for whatever reason, Mazda seems intent on still hiding the new Mazda6 from proper scrutiny ahead of its Moscow debut; not a single photo of the whole car, just four bits.

McLaren MP4-12C sold out until 2014

McLaren MP4-12C - you'll have to wait 'til 2014 to get one. It was always likely that the McLaren MP4-12C would be a popular buy. Especially with the promise of F1 fairy dust sprinkled over the first new road car from McLaren in almost a generation.