Thanks to the German car-magazine Autobild we now have some images that show us how the result of BMW’s project i might look like. The i-car will be an electronic car to suit the requirements of the future. This means an even higher demand for oil, rising gas-prices, mega-cities - but despite that everybody wants to be mobile. BMW will not build a hybrid car to solve this problem since these cars still need fuel, although it is a bit less. Instead of that the car will most likely be powered by an electronic engine only.
The head of BMW’s project i-division, Friedrich Eichinger, admits that the perfect solution has not been found yet. So there are a lot of ideas and different concepts the engineers at BMW think about. Maybe BMW can benefit from the competence they have concerning motorcycles and the new i-car will be more like a motorcycle than a car, maybe the result will look completely different. One thing is nice in this case: We are not the only ones who don’t know, nobody knows it yet…
BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer also told Autobild, that BMW will not build a new Isetta. According to him that would be “the wrong signal for the brand and the time” we are living in. The “C2″ you see above is a kind of motorbike for 2 persons, but it should offer the safety of a modern car. Autobild quotes another manager who says that there is room for another BMW below the 1 series that could arrive very early. He doubts that they will build such a car with rear-wheel-drive due to the higher costs and less space in the car that would be resulting.
Norbert Reithofer announces new information about the project i for december and says that there might be another five years of waiting until these cars arrive on the streets. But he promises that these cars will still create driving pleasure and will suit the requirements of the future far better than anything you can see today.
8 Responses
Sba
August 28th, 2008 at 5:12 am
1The c2 photo is so fake, the person behind can’t stay in that place, there is no room for the second person. This is a bad made photoshop.
Horatiu B.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:23 am
2Even though most likely the motorcycle-car thing will not happen, it is still interesting to see such concept. I do see in the next 20 years, many cars being built this way, especially with the increased traffic and the numbers of cars on roads. I’m not even talking about the crazy parking situation in major cities or the traffic in China.
Anon
August 28th, 2008 at 11:17 am
3Interesting, I’ve seen a lot of new designs lately that have the fender skirts like what’s shown on the first picture there. The coolest and most radical designs I’ve seen have come from Aptera Motors. (www.aptera.com)
Horatiu B.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
4@Anon: I agree, it is definitely interesting, but probably too early for our times
adood84
August 28th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
5I really hope I don’t see the day that a car wears a BMW badge and has front wheel drive . BMW = RWD
Kodey
August 29th, 2008 at 1:39 am
6haha to adood84, lol i hope you have seen the ad were BMW makes fun of front wheel drive with the rabbit? its funny.
Horatiu B.
August 31st, 2008 at 2:20 am
7@adood84: Never say never!
Elite Import Cars » BMW CEO confirms two-powertrain city car
September 12th, 2008 at 3:20 am
8[...] rumors regarding a BMW eco-friendly car have been floating around the internet. The so rumored Project i concept has been slightly confirmed by BMW executives many times. In a recent interview with Die [...]
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