Up until now, BMW’s commercials for the i8 were focused on a couple of things, with most of the time going to the mix of efficiency and performance the car offers. Suddenly, things appear to have changed, at least in the more recent ad published on the company’s UK Youtube channel.
Now, they seem to focus on the more plush sides of the car, the more exclusive aspects like the design, the passion and the desires it stirs up. It’s not necessarily a bad direction, but why has it come to this?
Well, last week, the American Environmental Protection Agency released their estimates for the i8 and they were more than disappointing. They were downright disastrous. Instead of the claimed 112 mpg (2.1 l/100 km), the car returned just 28 mpg (8.4 l/100). That’s basically four times worse than their estimate.
Furthermore, even the CO2 emissions were rated well over what BMW declared, at 122 grams per km (198 grams per mile) instead of 49 grams as the Germans claim. That’s yet another grain of salt in the eyes of those eco-conscious customers they want to attract.
Considering that some sources claim BMW invested more than €16 million in advertising for the i8, it’s good that they have the liberty to switch their marketing in either way they want to at any time. However, with such a budget and considering that they sold only 55 units so far, the cost of advertising all those impressive numbers comes down to around €300,000 per unit. Steep!
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