The BMW i16, the successor the plug-in hybrid i8 supercar, was heading for manufacturing earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic plugged the pulled on the mission.

Damogoj Dukec, design chief for the BMW model, posted on Instagram various photographs of the i16 in a single day, which he described as “one other good saved secret”. Previous to changing into BMW’s design’s boss, he was head of design for the BMW M and BMW i divisions till 2019, and was deeply concerned within the improvement of the i16.

In keeping with Mr Dukec, the i16 “was prepared – inside and outside” after “lower than 12 months” as a result of the automotive reused the “composite construction of the BMW i8”.

The i16’s silhouette, (probably) gull-wing doorways, and key architectural factors, such because the place of the bottom of the windscreen, point out the i16 was successfully a reskin of the i8.

Styling for the i16 attracts inspiration from the 2019 Imaginative and prescient M Subsequent idea automotive. In comparison with the i8 on which its based mostly, the i16 has sharper strains and detailing, a much less controversial general presence.

Though the design for the i16 appeared to be close to completion, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down a lot of the world in 2020, “and so, work on the mission sadly needed to be stopped”.

It’s unclear what modifications BMW deliberate for the automotive’s drivetrain. The i8 had mid-mounted 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine driving the rear wheels, an electrical traction motor up entrance, and a excessive voltage battery positioned within the backbone of the automotive.

On the finish of its six-year manufacturing run, the drivetrain made a complete of 275kW and 570Nm, and will full the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.Four seconds. It additionally had 55km of pure electrical driving vary in keeping with the beneficiant NEDC customary.

The Imaginative and prescient M Subsequent idea is claimed to have a extra highly effective plug-in hybrid setup creating 441kW all up, a 0-100km/h time of three.Zero seconds, and a pure electrical driving vary of 100km.

Regardless of being upset the i16 by no means noticed progressed to the manufacturing unit flooring, Mr Dukec is philosophical, stating that “as designers, we’re conversant in the numerous twists and turns of such initiatives”, and that we’ll by no means cease dreaming and exploring new potentialities, and there’s at all times a brand new mission ready across the nook”.