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AC Schnitzer Teases Upcoming Tuned BMW i8

If there’s one tuner out there crazy and good enough to take on BMW’s i8 and take it one step further, that’s AC Schnitzer. The German company has been working alongside BMW for over 40 years and they pulled some crazy stunts in the past as well.
BMW i8 1 photo
Photo: AC Schnitzer
They just published a set of photos of a brand new BMW i8 in their shop, being delivered with some rather teasing words next to them “of course we will have a real close look at it and maybe...”.

Not a promise but definitely a promising start. The i8, in its stock guise, uses an internal combustion 1.5-liter, 3-cylinder turbocharged engine that puts out 231 HP and 320 Nm (236 lb-ft) of torque, powering the rear axle.

Working with it is an electric motor fitted on the front axle, making 131 HP and 250 Nm (184 lb-ft) of torque, turning it into an all-wheel-drive car.

Now, we don’t know how much extra power the ACS engineers can get out of the electric unit, but we’re pretty confident that they can get more out of the IC one. Sure, that would mean more turbo lag but, with the electric motor having 250 Nm at its disposal from 0 RPM, that shouldn’t be a problem.

As far as exterior bits go, we reckon there won’t be a need for them. The car’s futuristic looks make it stand out anywhere and you really can’t make it look better by adding all sorts of front lips, wings or diffusers. The wheels could be changed though, to a wider profile to ensure more grip.

The AC Schnitzer grew has done a couple more interesting and unusual projects in the past, using BMW cars. Probably the most notable one was the LPG-powered V10 3 Series that was on sale a while back.

That car received the world famous S85 5-liter V10 engine from the E60 M5 under its bonnet but it worked using LPG, not traditional petrol. Even so, the specs were incredible:

- 552 HP and 540 Nm (400 lb-ft) of torque
- 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.5 seconds
- top speed: 320 km/h (200 mph)

If that was possible, why not a 400 HP i8?
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