The BMW landscape is constantly evolving.
Since the last BMW World Singapore show in 2010, BMW has seeded an approximately 20,000 of its cars on this sunny island. Fast forward to 2014, the stage is set again - set to be the largest single automotive group showcase in Asia that tells captivating stories of BMW and MINI on innovation, design and luxury.
We dive straight into the limelight stealer of the show, the BMW i8 with e-Drive, touted as the all new plug-in hybrid supercar of the future. It has just a 1.5L turbo three-cylinder engine mated to an electric motor. Something unheard of in the field of supercar category. A combined effort of this setup churns out a total of 357 brake horsepower, powering it from nought to hundred in 4.4 seconds.
Materials used for the BMW i8, the main shell and roof are mostly made up of carbon fibre with reinforced aluminium sub-frames. The exterior panels are thermoplastic and fully recyclable. Thin, durable gorilla glass are used extensively on the door and rear windows. Through these intense innovative use of lightweight materials, the i8 is able to achieve an impressive fly weight of just 1465 kg.
Last checked, the initial allocation of ten i8s in Singapore has been snapped up by buyers and now we wait in anticipation to spot the first one on the roads here.
Let us back peddle to the start of the show where SUVs and crossovers welcome us with their enormous grins. Also for the first time, the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is presented to the public as a new segment offering in the compact premium class, rivaling the likes of the Mercedes B-class.
Another new member added is the X4, to woo those who were previously intimidated by the sheer size of its larger sibling, the X6.
Teaming up with renowned Italian automotive design house Pininfarina, the BMW design team conceptualised and created this super-lux and alluring Gran Lusso Coupé that is the one and only in the world to be ever built.
