The Gentleman Magazine Issue 20 | April 2020 | Page 54

THE BMW I8: FROM VISION TO ICON, FROM
BESTSELLER TO CLASSIC OF THE FUTURE
The final stretch on the way to the "Hall of Fame" of BMW
sports cars: Six years after its market launch, the BMW i8 ends
its product life cycle. When production of the BMW i8 Coupé
(fuel consumption combined: 1.8 l/100 km; combined power
consumption: 14.0 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions:
42 g/km*) and the BMW i8 Roadster (combined fuel
consumption: 2.0 l/100 km; combined power consumption:
14.5 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions: 46 g/km) ceases,
the plug-in hybrid sports cars will have long secured their
place among the company's milestones. The BMW i8 started
its worldwide success story as a unique symbiosis of futuristic
design and pioneering technology. The BMW Group's first
plug-in hybrid model paved the way for driving pleasure that
was as dynamic as it was sustainable and became the epitome
of the fascination of driving with electrified drive technology.
It laid the foundation for the BMW Group's now broad range
of plug-in hybrid models. At the same time, the BMW i8
developed into the world's most successful sports car with
an electrified drive system. With more than 20 000 units sold
since 2014, it achieved higher sales than all competitors in its
segment combined.
The BMW Vision EfficientDynamics was already an enticing
prospect for the future of individual mobility. The concept
study presented at the International Motor Show (IAA) in
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Frankfurt in 2009 represented the promise of combining
hallmark BMW driving pleasure and inspiring design with
pioneering sustainability. The study of a 2+2-seater sports car
with gull-wing doors, a reinterpretation of the typical BMW
design language, plug-in hybrid system and four-wheel drive
that is entirely geared towards aesthetics and efficiency, met
with an overwhelming response. With the announcement
that the central features of its design and technology would be
transferred to a production vehicle of the new BMW i brand
and thus start into a new era of driving pleasure the BMW
Group soon triggered enthusiastic reactions.
The launchpad for a consistent electrification strategy
The BMW i8 made its world premiere at the IAA motor
show in 2013 together with the BMW i3. The double debut
was the starting signal for implementing a comprehensive
electrification strategy, with which the BMW Group set the
early and consistent course for a model programme geared
towards sustainable driving pleasure. Today the company is
one of the world's leading suppliers of vehicles with electrified
drive systems. Besides the purely electrically driven BMW i3
(fuel consumption combined: 0.0 l/100 km; combined power
consumption: 13.1 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions:
0 g/km), BMW i3s (combined fuel consumption: 0.0 l/100
, Securing the Internet of Things”