The year is 2009 and BMW has just blown you away with it’s audacious Vision EfficientDynamics concept car. It was in this moment that you first wondered if it was possible to be sexually attracted to an automobile. After sorting that one out, you decide “This is going to be my car when I grow up”.
Fast forward two years and the project now goes by the i8 moniker, made an appearance in a Mission: Impossible movie and your desire for the car is overwhelmingly validated– It looks even more exquisite when Paula Patton steps out of it. Of course, it would take a further three years for the car to make it into production but boy was it worth the wait.
The production version of the car looked pretty much similar to the concept. There was no doubt here, the car was a stunner. Not only that, it delivered impressive numbers to boot. It housed the advanced combination of a lithium-ion battery and a three-cylinder engine that could accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers in just 4.4 seconds.
Finally a supercar that can feel good about.
Anyway, if the first two paragraphs sound at all familiar to you then you’re in for some bad news: Come April, the i8 will no longer be in production.
That’s right, BMW is pulling the plug on its iconic hybrid supercar. The futuristic car was a smashing success, selling more than more than 20,000 units in its six year run, which is a hell of a feat given that it costs a whopping US$147,500. The car even outsold all competitors in its class, combined! That being said, it’s 2020 and the cars technology is outdated and no longer competitive in the modern market when pit against the likes of Tesla.
In spite of its discontinuation though, the i8 leaves a massive legacy that will be carried forward into BMW’s newer models. The technology and features that came with the car trickled down into the newer vehicles in the company’s fleet and paved the way for the existence of the company’s latest all electric i4 model.
To those of you who dreamt of owning your very own i8, fret not. There’s actually quite a few on the secondhand market now and prices start from RM428,000 onward.
