Will BMW launch their hydrogen-powered i8 concept in the U.S next month?
To celebrate its 40th anniversary in North America, BMW is apparently preparing to launch two concept cars at the 2015 Monterey Car Week on August 13. Press rumours are rife that one the cars could be a preview of the new BMW M2, while the other could be the hotly anticipated hydrogen-powered BMW i8.
In BMW, Cars, International News, Spyshots / By Graham Chin / 21 July 2015 9:34 am / 1 comment

In conjunction with its 40th anniversary in North America, BMW is set to unveil two concept cars at the 2015 Monterey Car Week on August 13. Rumour has it that one the cars could very well be a preview of the new BMW M2, while the other, a hydrogen-powered BMW i8.

With nothing else to go by except for a concept steering wheel that has buttons with the words ‘cool’, ‘radio’, ‘alarm’, ‘wiper’, ‘flash’ and ‘PSL’ on it, there’s very little else that one can tell. Perhaps this flappy paddle steering wheel is set to be mounted onto the new i8, which is powered by hydrogen fuel-cell technology. Also interesting is that it has BMW M’s trademark tri-colour stitching.

Meanwhile, rumours are rife that the BMW M2 will be previewed at the event. The reasoning behind this is that the M4 Concept was unveiled in the same fashion, at the same venue some two years back.

The upcoming BMW M2 coupe is believed to have a downtuned version of the M3/M4’s 3.0 litre twin-turbo inline-six engine with about 400 hp. Transmission-wise, it’s likely to feature a seven-speed M dual-clutch as BMW M boss, Frank van Meel had indicated earlier that M cars with manual boxes could soon be no more. A pity, really, considering the previous 1M Coupe was manual-only.