On February 12th, BMW’s design chief Domagoj Dukec revealed the official images of the successor to the classic i8 electric sports car, the BMW i16, on his Instagram. He stated that the new car inherits the elegant lines of the i8 and incorporates design elements from the 2019 Vision M Next concept car. “As the successor to the i8, this is a project that I personally participated in.”
Domagoj Dukec said the BMW i16 has “all the styles of the future and the classics fused together”, advancing the design from the M1. In less than 12 months, the car was “ready inside and out”. It also uses the composite structure of the i8, potentially reducing development costs and increasing feasibility for mass production. However, he quickly changed his tone, “history did not create and innovate.” In 2020, due to the global pandemic, the i16 had to be unfortunately stopped. As for the interior and power information of this plug-in hybrid supercar, it is not yet known, but it is known that the car will also use a plug-in hybrid system. The license plate information from the design drawings also reveals that the car will offer the high-performance M i16 model. For reference, the BMW i8 is equipped with a 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine and a front axle electric motor, with a total output power of 356 horsepower and a 0-62 mph acceleration time of 4.3 seconds. According to previous reports by IT Home, the BMW i8 ceased production in April 2020, with a production volume of approximately 20,000 units over its 6-year production cycle. The BMW i8 concept car made its initial appearance at the 2009 Frankfurt International Motor Show, and 4 years later, the production version of the i8 debuted alongside the BMW i3, making it the first of BMW’s many electrified models.