Selling A Stolen BMW i8 On Craigslist Will Land You In Jail

You can't fix stupid.

Those who scroll through Craigslist looking for interesting cars for sale on a regular basis will likely know when something stinks. Some offers are just too good to be true. This is one of them. As reported by Jalopnik and WREG-TV, a guy from Memphis, Tennessee, was arrested this past week for selling a stolen BMW i8 on the popular online classifieds website. Marqueze Blackwell listed the i8 for a seemingly bargain price of $87,000.

Unfortunately for Blackwell, the ad caught the attention of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, who suspected wrongdoing. Authorities made contact with Blackwell and arranged to meet in person to check out the car. Blackwell falsely believed he had a potential buyer. It didn’t take long for police to realize the i8’s VIN number was clearly a fake, and Blackwell was taken into custody. Turns out the car’s VIN is also located under the seat and police were able to positively identify the i8, which was reported stolen in Orlando, Florida, in March. Not only has Blackwell been charged with theft, but also with altering a motor vehicle serial number.

The first lesson here is very simple: don’t steal a car in the first place. Don’t be that guy. Second, if you choose to be that asshole, have the common sense not to sell the car on a public e-commerce platform. Anybody could be looking at your posting, including the cops.

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The Flying Spur Is So Old Bentley Is Asking Mulliner For Help Selling It

How many special edition models have to come out until none are special any more?

Time is the only real currency us mortal beings have. It’s why no one envies the rich business man that never has time with his kids and who would be happier if he traded places with the Salvadorian woman who’s raising them. It’s also, unbeknownst to most, the only form of happiness that money can buy. With money there’s less need to spend time working and a person can enjoy the smaller things in life like the flash of color on a suit lining or the vibrant stitching on a leather saddle.

Or at least that’s what Bentley thinks is what rich people spend their free time appreciating after an afternoon yoga session following their midday brunch. To help in that pursuit, the automaker tasked its in-house tuning division, Mulliner, with creating a series of 100 special edition Flying Spurs. The Design Series is available across the entire range, cladding the V8, W12, V8 S, and W12 S models with five interior and exterior color splits. Among these shades are Mandarin, Pillar Box Red, White, Kingfisher, and Azure Purple, all hand picked by the Mulliner team to invoke that aforementioned appreciation for stitching on saddle leather or the flash of color on a suit lining. Or whatever you’re into for that matter.

New not just for Bentley but for the auto industry as a whole is a material comprised of carbon fiber that's been enriched with titanium, though despite what the press release claims, Pagani previously melded the two materials together to make what Horacio Pagani called “carbotanium.” But that was not enough for Bentley, which is why Mulliner threw in a new front bumper design for the two S models, a lower fine line up front, and LED Welcome Lamps that reflect the word “Mulliner” on the ground at night. For the top trim W12 S, Mulliner adds black bright ware around the headlamps and grille as well as 21-inch wheels painted in Gloss Black. Typical for Bentley, there’s no mention of the price. They just assume real customers won't have to ask.

Audi Might Be Ready To Rent You A Car Instead Of Selling One

They way Audi is testing this concept sounds great to us.

Many of the big automakers are gearing up for a future where people share vehicles instead of owning them. Each company seems to have a different idea of how this future might work. Mercedes-Benz wants to create a sort of Airbnb for cars, and Tesla wants your car to be able to drive by itself and earn you money on the side. Audi has also prepared for this future where people will inevitably buy fewer cars. Currently, Audi has a goal of selling 2 million cars per year, and just finished 2016 by selling a record 1.87 million cars.

In an interview with Autocar, Audi sales and marketing boss Dietmar Voggenreiter said that Volkswagen Group's strategy for 2025 was ready for a "sharing economy", with "more ride sharing and more mobility". Voggenreiter pointed to a new pilot program in Hong Kong called "Audi On Demand". The program is currently being operated in an apartment building with 1,000 flats but only 150 parking spaces. Residents of the building are able to rent a Q7, TT RS, or A3 from an app on their phone from any of those 150 spaces. Cadillac has a similar new program that allows customers to lease every car in the Cadillac lineup for a flat rate of $1,500 per month. We love the idea, but Cadillac hasn't been able to keep up with demand.

The concept of being able to live in an apartment where you don't need to own a car is interesting, but we could also just rent a sports car, SUV, or sedan based on what you needed on a particular day. Apartment rental firms could sign deals with certain automakers, and renting an apartment could become more than just looking at the neighborhood and how many bedrooms it has. Shoppers would have to see which cars can be rented to make a decision. If the apartment in the better neighborhood only had a Toyota Prius to rent, we would much rather take the apartment that was worse if it had a Corvette Z06 available.

These Are The Best Selling Plug-In Hybrids And EVs Of 2018

People really love these plug-in hybrids and electric models.

Electric vehicles and plug-ins are becoming more and more mainstream, while the incoming wave of luxury EVs from Audi, Jaguar, Porsche, and others will bolster electric sales even more. EV sales may falter when the $7,500 tax credit runs out, but that remains to be seen. For now, plug-in hybrid and EV sales have been increasing, and Inside EVs has been keeping score. The electric-focused publication has tallied up plug-in and EV sales now that we are more than halfway through the year, to find the 10 best sellers of 2018 (so far).

It is worth noting that GM and Tesla don't provide monthly sales figures, so these numbers were estimated. There should be no surprises at number one, where the Tesla Model 3 slots in as the best seller. Tesla moved 18,305 Model 3 sedans through May of 2018, and has finally reached its production goal of building 5,000 cars per week. At number two, the Toyota Prius Prime sits as one of only three plug-in hybrid models on this list with 12,018 units sold through May. The Tesla Model S and Model X sit at three and four, with 8,070 and 6,975 units estimated through May respectively.

The GM twins occupy the five and six spots, with the all-electric Bolt edging out the gas-electric Volt with 6,775 units sold compared to 6,478. The Nissan Leaf comes in at number seven with 5,292 units, which is impressive considering the car only went on sale in March. The Honda Clarity Plug-In ranks at eight, with 5,225 units sold, and the Ford Fusion Energi comes in at nine with 3,698 units sold. Finally, the BMW i3 manages to eek onto the list with 2,924 units sold in 2018.