Photo: BMW
Along with the i8 launch, BMW put its huge marketing team to work, to make it look like something we’ve never seen before. Don’t get us wrong, the i8 has some special features to it and it’s quite an attractive offer but maybe it’s not as special as the Germans are trying to say.
What truly sets the first plug-in hybrid sports car made by BMW apart from the rest of the crowd is the powertrain and, to be more precise, it’s size.
While the current hypercars done by McLaren, Porsche and Ferrari use huge petrol engines combined with small electric motors, BMW went in a different direction. They used a small internal combustion unit coupled with an electric one that makes nearly 50 percent as much power.
It’s not the case in the P1 or the 918. However, they do have this similarity between them, one that will be found on all ‘good’ sport cars launched in 10 years, according to BMW’s Research and Development Chief, Herbert Diess, talking about the i8 at the car’s launch in Los Angeles, last month.
He also explained that BMW opted for this configuration to actually provide the customers with a car that they can use on a daily basis and that can return a fuel consumption of up to 121 mpg (2.5 l/km), despite engineers pushing to give the car a bigger powerplant.
“We did not want to provide the performance through a big heavy engine, which mostly works in a very inefficient way. If the driver needs more power, the electric motor in the front, plus a smaller electric motor in the rear, will come into play,” Carsten Breitfeld, BMW i8 Project Manager said.
We’d say they made the correct choice. This being an i car and not part of the M division’s offerings, the numbers are just right. 362 HP and 570 Nm (420 lb-ft) of torque, combined, are enough for a 4.4-second dash to 100 km/h (62 mph) from a standstill and keep you entertained plenty, without going to the track.
Furthermore, the fact that some engineers pushed for a bigger engine to be used tell us that there might still be hope for a possible M8 model that would be simply stunning if it was to use the body of the i8 and a proper M engine.
While the current hypercars done by McLaren, Porsche and Ferrari use huge petrol engines combined with small electric motors, BMW went in a different direction. They used a small internal combustion unit coupled with an electric one that makes nearly 50 percent as much power.
It’s not the case in the P1 or the 918. However, they do have this similarity between them, one that will be found on all ‘good’ sport cars launched in 10 years, according to BMW’s Research and Development Chief, Herbert Diess, talking about the i8 at the car’s launch in Los Angeles, last month.
He also explained that BMW opted for this configuration to actually provide the customers with a car that they can use on a daily basis and that can return a fuel consumption of up to 121 mpg (2.5 l/km), despite engineers pushing to give the car a bigger powerplant.
“We did not want to provide the performance through a big heavy engine, which mostly works in a very inefficient way. If the driver needs more power, the electric motor in the front, plus a smaller electric motor in the rear, will come into play,” Carsten Breitfeld, BMW i8 Project Manager said.
We’d say they made the correct choice. This being an i car and not part of the M division’s offerings, the numbers are just right. 362 HP and 570 Nm (420 lb-ft) of torque, combined, are enough for a 4.4-second dash to 100 km/h (62 mph) from a standstill and keep you entertained plenty, without going to the track.
Furthermore, the fact that some engineers pushed for a bigger engine to be used tell us that there might still be hope for a possible M8 model that would be simply stunning if it was to use the body of the i8 and a proper M engine.
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