First launched as a concept vehicle, BMW Malaysia has now unveiled the all-new BMW i8 Coupe last night at the Auto Bavaria showroom in Kuala Lumpur, this super plugin hybrid coupe now features a more aggressive design and efficient aerodynamics.
The car’s battery size has been significantly increased to 33Ah from the previous 20Ah with an output of 105 kW, delivering up to 55km of mileage on a full charge. Combined with the 1.5-litre turbocharged 3-cylinder combustion engine that outputs 170 kW/231 hp, the car gets a combined power of 275 kW/374 hp, which can sprint from 0-100km/h in just 4.4 seconds and have a fuel consumption of 1.8l/100km.
The exterior of the new BMW i8 remains very much unchanged, while you do fine the front grille to be somehow more aggressive looking than the previous model, it now comes with an Air Shutter on the hood, which opens and closes depending on the cooling and aerodynamics requirements.
As for the interior, there are a few refinements despite maintaining pretty much the same progressive design from the previous BMW i8, there’s the open-pored CFRP Carbon trim on the centre console, door handle and dashboard inlay, the ceramic controls with an embossed i8 logo on the iDrive controller, and the ceramic finish on the gear selection lever.
For the tech part, there’s a Head-up Display that changes to a sports display that includes rev, gears, and shift lights when performing manual gear chagnes in SPORT mode, the BMW iDrive operating system also now comes with a new Navigation System Professional software, while the tile-based user interface is themed in the BMW i color scheme on the beautiful 8.8-inch display.
Unfortunately, there is still no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto functionality preloaded on the iDrive system, but BMW has enabled the Remote App on the new i8 via its BMW Connected service, which lets drivers remotely lock and unlock the car, remote light flash and horn blow. BMW Connected also shows information of the car on your phone, such as current charge status, range, and assists drivers in looking out for charging stations and sent the location remotely to the iDrive’s navigation system.
