The BMW i8 Spyder (pictured) heading in to production
The BMW i8 Spyder – the open-top version of BMW’s i8 eco supercar – was revealed in 2012 as a concept and now looks, finally, to be going in to production.
Update: BMW has now revealed a new i8 Concept (presumably one that’s more or less production-ready) will be revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
A reveal at the CES would suggest BMW has moved the i8’s technology on, hopefully by improving the i8’s paltry EV only range. We’ll find out in January.
The BMW i8 – BMW’s first ‘green’ supercar – started to hit the roads in customers’ hands just last year, and seems to have been a bigger success than BMW could have imagined, with buyers willing to pay a 50 per cent premium to get hold of one (although that soon disappeared).
But what of the BMW i8 Spyder, revealed as a concept in 2012?
Despite expectations that the i8 Spyder would follow closely behind the i8 Coupe in to production, there has been no sign of it appearing, perhaps because BMW was too busy keeping up with orders for the coupe.
But now, according to Left Lane (quoting German newspaper Handelsblatt), that’s about to change.
It seems BMW boss Harold Kruger has confirmed that the convertible i8 (which may, or may not, keep the i8 Spyder moniker) will debut very soon, and that rather than having an electric roof will have removable panels, presumably to keep weight in check.
Elsewhere, the Spyder is expected to be very close to the concept – and the i8 coupe, for that matter – complete with a 1.5 litre three-cylinder engine mated to an electric motor giving enough power to get to 62mph in under 5.0 seconds, and deliver official economy figures of 95mpg.
Perhaps the most likely debut for the i8 Spyder is at Geneva in spring 2016, at prices likely to start the wrong side of £110,000.
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