1 Oct 2014
BMW’s plug-in petrol-electric sports car landed in the Australian market in late 2014, ready to upset all hybrid technology nay-sayers.
It featured a 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine making 170kW of power at the rear wheels, coupled with an electric motor producing an additional 96kW at the front wheels, for a combined output of 266kW of power and 320Nm of torque.
The German car-maker’s revolutionary i8 hit 100 kilometres from a standstill in just 4.5 seconds, 0.1 seconds faster than the first-generation Audi R8.
Sold with six airbags, a lightweight carbon fibre-reinforced plastic and aluminium skin, automated braking, LED headlights and a heads-up display, the BMW i8 had all the technological bells and whistles to back-up its divisive looks.
