Insecure BMW Tries to Sell Us the i8 Hybrid on Looks and Performance

The i8 is a strange car for BMW in that it’s a hybrid and mid-engined, yet it also promises to offer the same qualities that buyers of their cars expect, like sports car performance and looks, plus a dash of the futuristic. All of that with claimed low fuel bills.

However, BMW has seemed insecure about both it and the i3 ever since they were revealed, and all their literature and videos put out have been kind of aggressive in bringing the message that it is a real sports car that looks good across to the audience. It just happens to also be efficient and a hybrid…

The two videos posted below are no exceptions and in the one about performance, it (the i8) gets personified as a she.

Also, they chose a black car  that’s not all that well lit for this presentation, in order to hide the weird shapes that immediately pop out on white examples

Scroll down and expect facts, figures and epithets to be thrown your way, in the hopes that you’re one of the people who really do want to spend all that money on an i8. It even has a flashy key if you’re still not bent on sealing the deal.

By Andrei Nedelea

VIDEO

BMW Explains the Design of the i8 in New Video

There is no question that the BMW i8 is one of the most unique designs to come out from Bavaria in the past decade. Its concept car looks make it impossible to ignore on the street.

The long wheelbase, short overhangs, sweeping roofline and strong surfaces give the BMW i8 a dynamic stance. There are so many intricate design elements that it will probably take owners quite a while to discover each and every one of them once they take delivery of their i8.

Details like the scissor doors with hidden handles and different layers of materials used both inside and out make the BMW i8 look like nothing else on the road today.

I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of the BMW i3’s styling, but when it comes to the BMW i's range-topping model, it’s hard to find an angle from which the car looks awkward. Check it out for yourself in the official BMW video posted below.

By Dan Mihalascu

VIDEO

BMW i8 Key Fob Photo Shows It May be Something Special

So, for a while now, all BMW keys have looked the same and worked the same, with no real notable changes over the past few years. However, according to Bimmerfile, that may not be the case for the sporty but green i8, as press shots purpotedly show the hybrid’s key fob - it looks like a smartphone with a propeller badge.

Like the interior of the Tesla Model S, here too you will be struck by the size of the touch-sensitive display, which, in-keeping with the proportions, is very big for its application.

It also doesn’t seem fake, with everything fitting together nicely design-wise – this is almost certainly the real thing and it’s pretty enough to at least partly ease the pain of spending $135,700 on a car that’s about half as fast as it costs.

From what we gather, it tells the range, state of charge and the time, though it has two screens to browse through (there are two dots above the word “Connected,” at the bottom of the display).

Only problem is it just looks a bit too big and flashy, but then we get back to the price and it kind-of makes sense.

By Andrei Nedelea

Editor's Note: We found another photo of a different and plainer looking BMW i8 key fob on David Khaykin's FlickR page, so we contacted BMW USA on December 16 for an explanation and more details, but we have yet to hear back from them

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