Concept Official: BMW i3 and i8 Concepts

[donkeykong]

.

Was asked the most stupid question today .... " what if the driver wants to jack off whilst in a traffic jam?" "Wont the public see through the exposed glass?"
My reply was " I do not know anybody who has or had the notion to masturbate in their car and I do not think I would want to"

Dude is obviously a pervert tell him to get his windows tinted. How will the roof of the i8 end up looking?

 

[chonkoa]

Neither???

Sorry to say, but they look horrible. i3 in particular. HORRIBLE. Hope the real cars will be better than these crappy CGIs

i8 has a crazy ugly side profile. WTF were they thinking.

If Klier doesn't like it then it is really bad.

 

[klier]

If Klier doesn't like it then it is really bad.

Relax, I'm starting to warm up already

 

[LaArtist]

Concepts are very hard to define..they look very conceptish..with the extensive use of glass and transparency..
It will leave you disappointed when the sheet metal is on.. mark my words..
That sports car looks like a previous BMW concept..is this the same?
And the small car is actually very cool looking..but like i said above..much is down to the conceptness of the concept..if that makes any sense

 

[Giannis]

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[HighestOfHigh]

Surprisingly the changes for production are very little.

That's great news. Those concepts look great!

I have a feeling that i8 might just be one of those models you will have to get on a waiting list. Just from seeing the preview of MI4 everyone seemed to love the i8 design.

 

[Deleted member 25]

captivating stuff, why did the built the plant in america ?

 

[Palbay]

You do realize that the fanboy was being sarcastic, right ?

I understand most people posting in a BMW forum are in general BMW fans. Or curious enough about the Brand to check in. Like a lot of car enthusiast I dread the day of 1.5 liter 50hp/electric toaster powerplants. No matter the hype the electric/hybrid car/sports car will never replicate the driving experience of a proper internal combustion engine sports car. My community has a lot riding on BMW making the right choices (7,000 BMW Plant jobs and 14,000 support jobs) going forward. I hope somebody buys the electric cars......it just won't be me. I've said repeatedly on these forums we are seeing the beginning of the end of the internal combustion engine as a free will choice for automobile propulsion in the automobile marketplace. The greens are winning as evidenced by BMW's announcement today. Only time will tell where this all ends. I still have time to build my Engine Museum and display V12,V10,V8,V6 and V4 historic automobile powerplants. A very very sad thought. Thanks. PalBay

 

[chonkoa]

Ugly pointless cars! Failure! Future is fugly! I want the 70s back! Gas guzzling V10 & V8s! Yeah, baby!

Sarcasm well taken, but you do realise there will always be a market for the 8/10/12 cylinder engines.

 

[Hein]

The more I look at the pictures, the more I like what I'm seeing. That i8 is gorgeous, the front end is stunning.

 

[Mr.Link]

Love the i8 inside out, any idea on what price points will these be launched? Also will they be made for the RHD markets considering I live in India? And when exactly do they go on sale?

Regards,

 

[klier]

^^ Don't think they will come right hand drive...and I'm guessing around 160-170k euro here I live, don't know how that will translate to India prices. It will be a lot more expensive than the new M5, for reference...

I still have time to build my Engine Museum and display V12,V10,V8,V6 and V4 historic automobile powerplants. A very very sad thought. Thanks. PalBay

V6? Meh!
V4?? LOL!

 

[EnI]

but you do realise there will always be a market for the 8/10/12 cylinder engines.

Or not ... Due future administrative / legislative omissions. At least in some parts of the world be sure registration of NEW cars with excessive carbon print will be prohibited in the future. Why do you think Porsche, MB, Audi, BMW are coming out with full-electric or hybrid sports cars with zero or low carbon footprint? It's just the beginning ...

Sure some markets exist - but supply is not legal every time.

And which right has more weight: a right to (breath & live in) clean air, or a right to buy a gas-guzzling super-polluting car? In some part of the world common good (public wealth) still bears more weight than some particular rights of an individual. What do you think sustainability is all about? It's about individual responsibility - for common good. Unfortunately some people (wrongly!) call that a socialism, and therefore reject sustainability as philosophy, political goal, way of living. But the trend is clear.

 

[Palbay]

BMW Supports Obama Admin on Green House Gas Regs

Munich/Washington, DC. – July 29, 2011… The BMW Group is in agreement with the direction outlined today by President Obama and his Administration on proposed new fuel economy standards for the period 2017 – 2025. The proposal is a result of extensive negotiations between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and will result in one national standard for regulating future greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy.

Josef Kerscher, President, BMW Manufacturing:

“Regulatory consistency is critical to synchronize product development with government rules. This way, companies have the time necessary to develop technologies that fulfill the requirements while remaining profitable and sustainable. The path from 2017 to 2021 is now clearly marked and we are ready for the challenge.”

The BMW Group supports the approach the US Government has taken, integrating the potential of numerous technologies to play a role in reducing GHG emissions, thus providing flexibility to achieve the ambitious targets that have been proposed. All implications of the upcoming regulation can be assessed only when all the details of the regulatory framework are finalized.

The BMW Group can build upon its extensive technological expertise and innovative know-how in developing new environmentally friendly technologies such as those that have already enabled the company to reduce its carbon output and increase fuel efficiency over the past several years.

In Europe, the BMW Group has achieved a CO2 reduction of 30% between 1995 and 2010. That reduction is the largest among premium auto manufacturer. Such achievements have enabled the BMW Group to be ranked as the most sustainable automotive company in the world for the past six consecutive years in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.

The BMW Group has achieved these impressive results through its longstanding EfficientDynamics principles. EfficientDynamics applies to every model within the company’s worldwide fleet. Since 1995, EfficientDynamics has introduced many industry-leading technologies such as Valvetronic throttle-less engine control, on-demand coolant and hydraulic pumps for reduced parasitic losses, and High-Precision Direct Injection. In 2009, BMW added two 50-state BMW Advanced Diesel models for an unprecedented combination of performance and low emissions. In some 2010 and 2011 models, BMW introduced Brake Energy Regeneration, Auto Start-Stop technology and two BMW ActiveHybrid models. This fall, BMW will introduce a new generation four-cylinder engine to the US market in several models. This innovative engine promises to increase performance over the six-cylinder engine it replaces while reducing CO2 and fuel consumption by 20%.

In addition to these efforts, the BMW Group has completed a two year consumer test with 450 electric MINI E vehicles both on the East and West coast of the US in order to gain valuable insight and experience for the next steps in electric mobility. Coincidently, earlier today in Frankfurt, BMW unveiled concepts of the BMW i3 and i8 that will start series production in 2013 and 2014 under the new BMW i brand. This clearly demonstrates that electric mobility will be an integral part of the BMW Group’s drive towards of the CO2 reduction strategy and will help the US Government in its commitment towards a cleaner environment.

This is exactly what I was referring to in my previous post.The companies with the wherewithal ,clout and stature within the Auto Industry to push back hard on this mindless "Green" game....won't. It forces companies to spend billions on a very expensive "science project",ie i3,Chevy Volt,etc that in the end will be a very low volume production car by modern automotive standards. And the rest of the fleet will be 1.5 cylinder very underpowered "Econo boxes" that the majority of the population does not want to buy. BMW might be a step ahead on the "fun to drive" category...but for how long. Look at the continual downsizing of the "M" powerplants. You can only squeeze so much HP/Torque out of a small displacement series production engine ....turbocharging or not.The race to the "Econo box" automobile world is on. Fire up that sewing machine....whirrr whirrr. Thanks.PalBay

 

[EnI]

Have you ever driven an electric go-kart?

 

[Palbay]

No I haven't. I realize the sensation of power down,i.e torque is elevated in an electric drive vehicle. Now strap a fire breathing V-10 on the back and we might have something to talk about .It's inevitable.... an undisputed fact of life....the true car enthusiast will be the big loser in this race to the green abyss.I hope one of these car companies proves me wrong...but I just don't feel the love right now. Thanks. PalBay

 

[EnI]

I guess there are strong prejudices present regarding EV - since companies are trying to make the cars affordable, and therefore not optimal & state-of-the art tech is used (it's still to expensive right now - talking about batteries & light-weight materials). So the EVs we get right now are still heavy, not performance-oriented enough (since mileage & usability is more important then performance to an average customer.

But ... the premium brands have an advantage they can sell niche products: more expensive performance-oriented EVs featuring exotic materials & state-of-art tech.

Performance is not an issue when it comes to EVs. Mileage & price are. But some customers care more about performance than mileage & price - and those will get expensive sports cars. And eventually the tech will trickle down to more mainstream products. It's a circle of life of every industry (or tech).

But I agree - first EVs are far from being optimal. But first cars with ICE weren't either. There is always a nasty transitional period present. That's inevitable.

 

[Palbay]

I guess there are strong prejudices present regarding EV - since companies are trying to make the cars affordable, and therefore not optimal & state-of-the art tech is used (it's still to expensive right now - talking about batteries & light-weight materials). So the EVs we get right now are still heavy, not performance-oriented enough (since mileage & usability is more important then performance to an average customer.

But ... the premium brands have an advantage they can sell niche products: more expensive performance-oriented EVs featuring exotic materials & state-of-art tech.

Performance is not an issue when it comes to EVs. Mileage & price are. But some customers care more about performance than mileage & price - and those will get expensive sports cars. And eventually the tech will trickle down to more mainstream products. It's a circle of life of every industry (or tech).

But I agree - first EVs are far from being optimal. But first cars with ICE weren't either. There is always a nasty transitional period present. That's inevitable.

All good points. I understand change is never easy. We face it at our job's every day. Unfortunately the fun to drive/affordable (debatable term) enthusiast car will fall off the radar. I speak of a top price range of around $120k +/- US dollars. No car company will defend that price point (The little people can't afford that type car... you better slot some more production line for the i3.....once you have stepped on the Green slope...it can be a very slippery place to try and stand) and relative low volume (think M5) in the Green abyss. These type of cars will either stop being produced in a post "Green" Auto world or be so castrated from a content perspective....they would be a shell of the former "enthusiast" oriented car. Unfortunately/Fortunately depending on the side of the economic scale you fall....the only true performance/enthusiast cars will fall to the Ferrari's,Aston Martins,Lamborghini,Bugatti,etc.Collector type cars/prices. I hope I'm wrong. Thanks. PalBay

 

[bmwownage]

i must say i like them (hey at least the i3 looks better than the F20, by far imo!!!)

in terms of design, honestly i think i want an i3 over an F20, mainly because the F20 looks so bad i guess but the i3 looks adorable.

The bad thing about these is that apart bearing the BMW badge/grille etc. it doesn't get standard design elements like the hofmeister kink and side swage. oh well..future..

and fxxk the i8 should be "the" BMW supercar.. just for the sake of it, make 10 of those with a nice V10 engine or something..grab the one from the E60 M5, done!

One question though, why are they still so heavy? the electronic motors/batteries? 1250kg for the i3 is not exactly light; 1480kg for the i8 isn't exactly light either.

 

[wookieecrisp]

I'll admit that I like these two cars. A lot.
However, do they really fit "The Ultimate Driving Machine?" I think BMW is trying to move towards a new direction in terms of their image.

Autoblog posted an article on a similar idea a few months ago, and the i3 and i8 were mentioned: Opinion: Is BMW becoming too soft?.