The BMW i8 sports car may appear to be the perfect recipient for a thorough performance upgrade from BMW’s M division, but the German’s have confirmed that no BMW i8 M will be manufactured. Let’s start a partition!
Under that perfectly crafted bonnet sits a 1.5-litre, turbocharged, three-cylinder engine. Which doesn’t sound like much, but it churns out a respectable 231bhp and 236 pound-feet of torque, which is then delivered to the rear wheels by a six-speed automatic transmission. An electric motor, meanwhile, sends 131bhp and 184lb-ft of torque through a two-speed automatic to the front wheels.
Using all 4 wheels the total system power sits at 362bhp and 320lb-ft of torque, and allows the i8 to launch to 60mph in just 4.4 seconds and to think this all done by a 1.5-litre engine, a motor and a couple of batteries, that’s crazy.
The BMW i8 is just one car in the i-brand line-up which BMW considers as a separate model range from all other BMWs including M-tuned BMWs. It appears that there will be no mixing of the i and M ranges.
