BMW i8 Spyder WON’T arrive in 2016 – and nor will BMW’s i5 EV

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Despite being shown again at the 2016 CES, the BMW i8 Spyder – the convertible take on the i8 plug-in hybrid – won’t arrive as a production car in 2016.

It’s almost four years since a concept version of the BMW i8 Spyder was first revealed in Beijing, and despite a production version of its coupe sibling being revealed in 2013, the i8 Spyder still hasn’t made it in to production.

That seemed likely to change when we learnt that a new i8 Spyder was going to be revealed at the 2016 CES in Las Vegas, but even though the convertible i8 did show up at CES, it was more as a platform for new BMW technology than a preview of a production car.

And now it seems we’re going to have to wait a while longer before the i8 Spyder goes in to production, with Motoring in Australia reporting that BMW has no plans to put it in to production any time soon, and certainly not in 2016.

In fact, it seems BMW are planning to put the much speculated upon i5 on the market first – as BMW’s answer to the Tesla Model S – using underpinnings from the next generation 5-Series as its starting point, and a powertrain likely to be based on the i8’s – or at least the powertrain the i8 has by then.

But it seems unlikely the i5 will arrive in production guise before the end of 2017, so it seems those looking for a convertible i8 – or BMW’s answer to the Tesla Model S – are going to have a bit of a wait.