Pursuits
BMW Sees No Rival in Tesla as It Readies Plug-in i8
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Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s rechargeable i8 sports car is entering a soon-to-be-crowded field of supercars with a hint of green. While they tap into Tesla Motors Inc.’s popularity, they’re for different buyers.
“This is the supercar of the future: It has the driving performance of an M3, but gets more than 80 miles per gallon,” Ludwig Willisch, BMW’s North American chief executive officer, said Aug. 15 in an interview in Pebble Beach, California. Relative to Tesla’s Model S, the i8 is “a whole different animal -- it competes with different concepts.”