BMW Delivered The First 18 i8 Roadsters All At Once

Typically when an automaker builds the first examples of a new model, it puts them on trucks, trains, boats, and planes, and sends them out to their eagerly awaiting customers around the world. But not BMW. At least not with the first examples of the new i8 Roadster.

Instead it handed over the first 18 of them to their enthusiastic new owners at its headquarters in Munich. The customers are all part of the BMW i8 Club – each of them, we gather, already owners of i8 coupes, and only too glad to get into the new drop-top version.

These 18 highly symbolic examples are special First Edition models, each individually numbered. Not only as part of the special series, but as the first dozen and a half among those. That ought to make them even more collectible in the long run.

The special edition features ceramic switches, matte carbon interior trim, an upgraded Harman Kardon sound system, and i8 logos projected into the footwell upon opening the doors.

The automaker’s sales chief for Germany completed the handover, along with the vehicle’s designer and project managers, at the BMW Welt in Munich. The club members who took possession came from within Germany and from Switzerland, Belgium, and as far away as Singapore. After touring the facility, they hopped into their new plug-in hybrid roadsters and drove them down to Lake Como for the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.

“We have been eagerly awaiting this moment for months – in fact, ever since we saw the first pictures of this gorgeous vehicle. The chance to enjoy the amazing driving experience of the Coupé in a Roadster is a dream come true for all of us,” explained Claus-Dieter Bachmann, president of the BMW i8 Club. “My fellow club members and I have been especially touched by the warm and enthusiastic welcome we have received here at BMW Welt. It has been an emotional moment we will never forget.”