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| © Motor Trend Staff 2019 BMW i8 Roadster rear three quarter in motion |
From Motor Trend
BMW may have updated the i8 coupe and added the i8 Roadster to its lineup,
but from what we've heard, BMW doesn't have plans for a second
generation of its high-performance hybrid. In fact, both the i3 and i8
are likely on the chopping block. But that doesn't mean BMW's getting out of the mid-engine game altogether. It may be readying a true hybrid supercar.
Autocar reports that instead of directly replacing the i8,
BMW will likely aim even higher and introduce a true hybrid supercar.
And while BMW has yet to publicly comment on its rumored plans to build
an Acura NSX competitor, it sounds like at least one executive is already on board. In a recent conversation with Autocar, Klaus Frohlich, BMW's head of product development, spoke openly about the potential for a hybrid supercar.
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| © Motor Trend Staff |
"If you are an engineer, once in your life, you want to make a
super-sports car. I think partial electrification will enable that,"
Frohlich said. "If we have these very compact and very powerful electric
driving units, if we have a carbon-fiber chassis—for example, the
i8's—and if we still have high-performance engines, then, if you do it cleverly, you can combine them into a real performance package."
Frohlich
wasn't shy about name-checking potential competitors, either. "If you
look at the supercars—the McLarens, the Ferraris—beyond 2020, they will
be all partially electric," he said. "And if you look at power plug-in
hybrids we are planning for today, an electric motor in our PHEVs has a
little bit more than 99 bhp and 184 lb-ft of torque. So if you see this
e-motor in a car which can give you in milliseconds the push formerly
found in a V-8 engine, then you can have a very sporty feel from this
power PHEV—and it fits perfectly to the M brand."
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| © Motor Trend Staff |
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