Following on from a cheeky teaser video, here’s a couple of the first BMW i8 photographs showing the car in production guise.
Due to make its world debut in Frankfurt in exactly seven days, the i8 utilizes the company’s i LifeDrive architecture, which focuses around a lightweight carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) passenger cell connected to the aluminum Drive module.
Propulsion comes via a TwinPower turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder combustion engine that sends 170 kW (231 hp) and 320 Nm of torque to the rear wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission, along with an electric motor developing 96 kW (131 hp) and 250 Nm driving the front wheels through a two-stage automatic gearbox.
It can hit 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) in all-wheel drive mode, with a maximum of 120 km/h (75 mph) and a range of 35 kilometres (22m) achievable in electric-only mode.
