BMW Ends Production Of Its Best Selling Hybrid Sports Car i8
BMW has recently announced it will stop the production of its iconic sports car i8. It is the first plug-in hybrid sports vehicle from the German Automaker. BMW announced that it is on the final stretch to the Hall Of Fame and six years after its launch BMW i8 is approaching the end of its production cycle.
The hybrid vehicle was first revealed in 2009 at the international motor show in Frankfurt. After four years, in 2014, the hybrid sports car was launched along with the BMW i3. However, the BMW i3 was a pure electric car.
In a span of six years, around 20,000 units of BMW i8 have been sold by the company. Also, it is the best-selling plug-in hybrid in its segment.
This plug-in hybrid is powered by an AC synchronous electric motor with an 11.6kWh Lithium-ion battery along with a 1.5L BMW TwinPower 3-cylinder engine. The car has a combined output of 369hp and can go from 0 to 60mph as quickly as 4.2 seconds. The battery can be fully charged in approximately 3 hours.
The car has a price of $147,500, however, you can not buy it anymore. Despite the expensive price, this hybrid was the best selling plug-in car. This clearly shows the excellent built quality, blistering performance, and aesthetic design of the car.
So far, the automaker has not given any specific reason behind the shutdown of the production of this successful vehicle. This has led to an ambiguous situation for BMW fans. However, as per some sources, it might also be possible that the company will bring up an all-electric variant of this iconic car or maybe the company has some other plans in store.
