BMW i8 bows out in a cascade of color
Once the car of the future, the exotic BMW i8 is now a thing of the past. As a last hurrah the final 18 hybrid sports cars rolled off the production line painted in fresh new colors, tailor-made for their owners, who were there to watch the spectacle.
Each of the 18 i8 Roadsters and Coupes was hand-finished in a different hue at the Leipzig, Germany, factory where a grand total of 20,500 i8s have been built over six years. Every car featured its own bespoke specification with exterior colors including Austin Yellow, British Racing Green and Le Mans Blue among those being available for the first time. Inside, the cars were trimmed in Alcantara to each owner’s taste.
The plug-in hybrid with its M1-inspired styling, carbon-fiber construction and little 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbo engine (with accompanying synthetic soundtrack) wasn’t exactly a top-seller. But with no plans to replace the i8 or its smaller sibling i3 when production ends, and BMW shifting its EV focus to more conventional sedans and SUVs, could the i8 be a future classic?
