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New BMW i8 Roadster; Reveals the Future of Performance Sports Cars

The new BMW i8 Roadster is being produced now at the plant in Leipzig. The future of performance cars will offer silent drop-top motoring.

The days of the high-revving loud 1,600hp high-performance hypercar are almost over. A new era of eco-performance is already here and the first ever BMW i8 performance Roadster sports car is coming soon. It’s being produced now at BMW’s plant in Leipzig where they also build the M2 Coupe. BMW produces about 100 i8 sports cars and over 20 BMW i3s at the German Leipzig plant daily.

Now, BMW is building the third member of the BMW i family and it will join the i8 and i3 soon. BMW says the i8 Roadster will be coming next year and will “unlock the door to a whole new dimension in pioneering open-top driving pleasure.” It’s the future of performance cars and will feature virtually silent, zero local emissions. Check out video of the i8 Roadster production here.

BMW says the all-new i8 Roadster gets a combined fuel consumption 2,1 l/100 km; combined electricity consumption 14,7 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions 48 g/km (Calculated in the EU test cycle, in combination with standard tires). These numbers are up slightly (4g/km) from the i8 hinting that the i8 Roadster is likely to sacrifice some of its economy for additional performance with a more powerful motor.

Recent spy photos of the new model have revealed a few things. The buttresses behind the cabin appears to be narrower and further apart than they have been in the concepts, and engineers also bridged a wind block. There could be a folding hardtop tucked in behind and the rear seat will probably be gone.

The all-new BMW i8 Roadster will make its global debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show press preview days, running from November 27-30. The future of performance vehicles is changing and the end of the ICE high-performance sports car era is quickly drawing to a close.

Photo credit: BMW