Car and Driver: BMW i8 Protronic Red Edition: A Red-and-Gray Hybrid for England

For as hot as it looks, BMW’s i8 hybrid sports car doesn’t offer a single “hot” color—in fact, there’s not even a warm hue or two on its palette. Icy grays, blues, and combinations thereof dominate the futuristic-looking i8’s option sheet, which is what makes the Protronic Red Edition BMW is offering to U.K. customers noteworthy. In case it isn’t clear, that would be because the special i8 is painted bright red.
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Having never seen a BMW i8 in such an attention-grabbing—and non-technical—hue, we find the Protronic Red Edition as novel as its name. “Protronic Red” paint is said to have been created specifically for this i8, and it’s complemented by Frozen Gray–painted trim and Orbit Gray wheels. The theme carries through to the special edition’s interior, where red contrast stitching and “exclusive” carbon-fiber and ceramic trim add splashes of pizazz. Other than the visual goodies and a slight price bump, the special-edition model is identical to regular i8s.

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It’s a shame that the Protronic Red Edition i8 is, for now, a U.K.-only model, because it sure would be nice to see some i8s in non-winter color schemes. On one hand, the nearly monochromatic red paint takes away some of the i8’s futuristic presence, but on the other, it makes the low-slung plug-in hybrid “pop” a bit.

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