BMW i8 Spyder: Official

BMW i8 Spyder

The BMW i8 Spyder – BMW’s open-top version of their i8 eco supercar – has been revealed ahead of a debut at the Beijing Motor Show later in April.

Yesterday we had the first leaked picture of the BMW i8 Spyder, the next stage on BMW’s eco supercar journey, and the news the open top i8 was heading for the Beijing Motor Show.

So BMW has decided to jump in with the official reveal of the i8 Spyder which gives us more than a couple of photos of the i8 to look through, although not much more in the way of detail than we surmised yesterday.

As we said, the i8 Spyder is pretty much the same under the skin as the i8 Coupe. It is a little shorter, both in length and wheelbase, than the coupe, and it loses the back seats. The back end gets changed with a flatter design flowing up to a pair of humps behind driver and passenger and there’s a transparent engine cover. Although whether we actually want to look at a 1.5 litre 4-pot is debatable.

The range-extending powertrain is the same, with the petrol engine at the back/middle driving the rear wheels and a 129bhp electric motor propelling the front. Despite the same powertrain the i8 Spyder appears to be a bit slower than the i8 Coupe, with BMW quoting a 0-62mph of 5 seconds.

We still don’t know if the open top is a removable panel or whether it disappears electrically and the doors have turned in to regular skinned butterfly openers. The body is still built from CFRP and the weight is a low 1630kg.

Economy claims are as daft as ever for a car like this, with BMW claiming 94.2mpg, although something less than half that is far more likely if you choose to use the power on offer. And if you don’t, why would you buy an i8?

There’s no confirmation that the BMW i8 Spyder is approved for production, but we’d be amazed if it doesn’t arrive soon afer the i8 Coupe.

(34 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK