Journos are congregating at an undisclosed location near the Chelsea Dog Run Park in downtown Manhattan as I write this, for the first ever unveiling of the BMW i3 and BMW i8 concept cars in North America. The sneak preview is being held before the cars get shipped to Los Angeles for the LA Auto Show. The mostly carbon fiber built battery operated and hybrid-electric vehicles had already been shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show, but here they are, on America soil.
Both are artists previously known as. The BMW i8 Concept is the successor to the BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics car featured in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The BMW i3 Concept was previously known as the “megacity vehicle.”
You’ll probably never be able to buy anything like that, but you can look at them in, well, person at the LA Auto Show.
I wonder if the production i3 will have exterior speakers to simulate engine noise…
I f*cking hate concept cars. I hate everything about them, and I wish the automotive press would just collectively decide to pretend they don’t exist.
Bertel, these cars were on American soil a few months ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqEYVaiRGKo
Crap, not too far from my office, either.
Hope the ‘useful idiots’ from Occupy Wall Street don’t damage these. In Oakland, CA they apparently attacked a guy driving a Benz.
Tread lightly, fellow capitalists…:)