Abu Dhabi, 13 February 2015: Its 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine combined with an electric motor gives searing acceleration and driver enjoyment but all wrapped in a package that takes BMW’s EfficientDynamics philosophy to the extreme. Progress in motion: a vehicle that fascinates. With innovative LifeDrive architecture, ground-breaking materials such as carbon, layering design and numerous intelligent BMW EfficientDynamics measures.
Every great pioneering achievement has its own story. In the case of the BMW i8, it begins in 2008 with the launch of Project i – and with no lesser objective than the reinvention of urban mobility. Just one year later, the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept showed what a technology leader geared fully toward energy saving can look like. This was the basis that gave rise to the BMW Concept i8, which demonstrated in near-production-ready form where the development would lead. All available BMW EfficientDynamics technologies were already united within this vehicle, an intelligent lightweight concept had been implemented, and the idea of a sports car for the future was already detectable. Series production of the BMW i8 marks the current peak of the development: a plug-in hybrid with the appearance and the breathtaking performance of a sports car, which at the same time exhibits the consumption and emissions of a compact car. And thus convincingly resolves the apparent contradiction between efficiency and dynamics.
The BMW i8 offers far more than pure athleticism. With its unique drive concept, it essentially reinvents the idea of sporting mobility. This is because the powerful plug-in hybrid system with the combination of BMW eDrive technology and a BMW TwinPower Turbo 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine brings together the benefits of an electric motor and a petrol engine to produce an outstanding driving experience.
