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By JAMES STANFORD in FRANKFURT THE stunning BMW i8 supercar concept you see here – revealed at a media event in Frankfurt last month – is not far away from the planned 2013 production car, according BMW i8 // Heil and shine BMW shines a light on its ultimate production hybrid vehicle to chief designer Adrian van Hooydonk. The design of the i8 concept is bold, with swooping lines, an aggressive stance and tall but extremely narrow wheels. It would be easy to dismiss it as a fanciful concept, but Mr van Hooydonk is confident it will not change much when it goes into production. “It is not far away,” he said. “What you see is 90 per cent what you will see in production. All the ideas and themes will be there.” BMW revealed the two-door i8 will be an extreme plug-in hybrid that will be quite a different beast to the more practical i3 fivedoor hatchback it plans to launch at the same time. The company said the two vehicles will book-end the German car-maker’s forthcoming green car sub-brand range and that there are r Ê N 3 4 Compare, Select and Save H 12 /14
Eight is enough: The external colours carry through into the cockpit. plenty of numbers in between them for new and different models. BMW disclosed that the i8, which is expected to cost as much as $300,000, will use both an electric motor and petrol engine to deliver M3-like acceleration by blasting from 0-100km/h in less than five seconds. At the same time, it will be able to deliver an official average fuel consumption of less than 3.0 litres per 100km, though BMW says realworld economy figures of between 5.0 and 7.0L/100km are likely when driven hard. The i8 uses the same electric motor as the i3 city-car – which delivers 125kW of power and 250Nm of torque – but is mounted over the front axle instead of the rear. This motor drives the front wheels and is assisted by a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine generating 164kW and 300Nm that is mounted at the rear and drives the rear wheels. Unlike the i3, which has a large rectangular battery pack that forms the floor of the passenger cell, the i8 runs a long and thin rectangular battery pack that sits between the driver and passenger much like a traditional driveshaft tunnel, allowing the seats to sit closer to the road. While the i3 will have an all-electric range of around 150km, the i8 will have fewer lithiumion batteries and be able to travel only 35km in electric-only mode, which BMW says will be enough for most city trips. r H 3 4 13 /14 Ê N
Page 1 and 2: iSelect’s MOTOR MONTHLY Issue 30
Page 3 and 4: By RON HAMMERTON AUSTRALIAN buyers
Page 5 and 6: Compare, Select and Save tucked und
Page 7 and 8: such are its massive dimensions. Fo
Page 9 and 10: \\ Volkswagen Up Up and at ’em Vo
Page 11: Go GREEN Give driving two green thu

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