This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed hosted a wide range of BMW cars, from the fresh 8 Series Concept to the M4 CS and i8 by Garage Italia. Among the special cars showcased by BMW in Goodwood were also two BMW i8 hybrid sports cars, one of them painted in Protonic Red while the other in a Frozen Orange color.
At launch time three years ago, the BMW i8 came in Ionic Silver, Crystal White and Sophisto Grey. Later on, BMW added a Protonic Blue and Protonic Red colors, along with a BMW Individual program for the i8 offered in selected markets.
For example, BMW’s new Individual color collection was priced upwards of £5,495 in the UK where it will include Java Green, Speed Yellow, Solar Orange, Twilight Purple Pearl, Frozen Grey, Frozen Black, San Marino Blue and Grigio Telesto Pearl, among others.
Later in 2017, BMW i will launch the BMW i8 Protonic Frozen Yellow Edition, giving customers another way to experience electrically-powered driving pleasure laced with added exclusivity.
Developed especially for the BMW i8, the hybrid powertrain is a combination of a 1.5 liter three-cylinder petrol engine and electric motors, powering all four wheels. The combustion engine develops 170 kW/231 hp and drives the rear wheels of the BMW i8. Furthermore, there is a 96 kW/131 hp electric drive as well, which sends its power to the front wheels and allows an all-electric range of up to 35 kilometers (22 miles) and a top speed of 120 km/h (75 mph). The i8 will accelerate from 0-62mph (0-100km/h) in just 4.2 seconds.
Fronze Orange?
BMW needs to give up on those idiotic paint finishes and focus on being the Ultimate Driving Machine again.
It’s the management that doesn’t get it. They’re trying to sell a boutique “GT” cruiser that is supposed to be easy on the environment. The fact that every single automotive manufacturer has released a vehicle that is high performance doesn’t seem to communicate to BMW AG that the world has caught up and in order to stay ahead, they need to raise the bar yet again to maintain the “Ultimate Driving Machine”. It would not be difficult to either boost the output of the 1.5 liter engine or swap in a high output four cylinder, add more battery capacity and still maintain 50/50 weight distribution. Not a single customer purchases an i8 for fuel economy so the electrification needs to be about performance.
Imagine a $150K, sub 3.5s 0-100kmh performance vehicle similar in concept to a P1, LaFerrari or 918. BMW would sell so many their production would not be able to keep up.