FRANKFURT -- Painted in Portimao Blue, the last BMW i8 rolled off the assembly line at the automaker’s plant in Leipzig, Germany, earlier this month, ending the plug-in hybrid sports car's production run after six years and 20,500 vehicles.
The i8 was BMW’s first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, laying the foundation for the brand’s current range of 10 plug-in models. In Germany, these include four crossovers, three sedans, two station wagons and a minivan in various segments from compact to large. The group’s Mini brand also offers a Countryman SUV in a plug-in hybrid version.
“This plug-in hybrid sports car symbolizes like no other automobile the dawn of electromobility,” Leipzig Plant Director Hans-Peter Kemser said in a statement. Production stopped on June 11.
The i8 was built around a 2+2-seat passenger cabin made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic and an aluminum chassis. When it was launched in 2014, it had a gasoline combustion engine with 228 hp and an electric motor that added 129 hp.
The i8 heavily borrowed its futuristic design from the Vision EfficientDynamics concept unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show. While the i8 was visually striking, the idea of spending more than 100,000 euros on a car with a 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine with the corresponding acoustics proved a hard sell.
The i8 was refreshed in 2018 and a softtop version was introduced. Battery size was increased to extend the full-electric range, and the e-motor’s output was increased to 143 hp.
European sales of the i8 fell 32 percent to 1,013 last year, according to data from market research JATO Dynamics.
Reviewers pointed to a lack of power, with Car & Driver magazine saying this year that despite the i8’s “show-stopping entrance” the current version was “more about looking fast than going fast.”
Motoring website The Drive even speculated recently on what conventional powerplants were the best to swap into the car.
BMW first confirmed in March that the i8’s production run would end. The automaker has not committed to a spiritual successor, although it said that the Vision M NEXT plug-in hybrid sports car concept, shown in June 2019, drew its inspiration from the i8.
Robert Irlinger, head of the BMW i subbrand, told Automotive News Europe at the time that no decision had been made on whether to move forward with a series production version of the Vision M NEXT.
In large part because of its plug-in hybrid lineup, BMW expects to meet its CO2 fleet emissions targets this year despite the coronavirus-related turbulence in the market. By 2023, BMW aims to have expanded its electrified lineup to 25 models, more than half of which will be fully electric.