BMW has handed the first i8s over to customers at a special event at BMW Welt in Munich.
The first eight customers from Germany received their BMW i8s as part of an official ceremony in which Roland Krüger, Head of Sales and Marketing Germany for the BMW Group, and Dr. Helmut Schramm, Head of Production Electric Vehicles at Plant Leipzig, presented them with the keys to their new cars.
The most special part is probably that all eight cars featured the optional ground-breaking BMW laser light. It is quite significant as Audi tried to beat BMW by offering laser headlights on the current R8, but as far as we know they still haven’t delivered any of the cars to customers.
So BMW can rightfully call itself the first manufacturer worldwide to offer totally new laser-powered headlights in a production vehicle. The BMW i8 is basically the first series-produced vehicle to feature this completely new lighting technology.
The optional laser-boost feature extends its high-beam range to up to 600 metres, doubling the illumination range of the latest LED high-beam headlights.
The new technology uses 30 per cent less energy than ultra-power-saving LED lights, while also taking up less installation space inside the headlight and weighs less.
The i8 plug-in hybrid powertrain uses a 1.5-liter TwinPower Turbo three-cylinder engine, an electric motor and a lithium-ion battery for a combined maximum output of 362 hp, taking it from 0-100 km/h in 4.4 seconds on its way to a limited top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).
