BMW’s 100th birthday year—2016—is also the 50th anniversary year for the company’s Italian division: BMW Italia. To celebrate the occasion, BMW Italia has teamed with Garage Italia Customs to create a commemorative, one-of-a-kind model: the BMW i8 Futurism Edition.
Given BMW’s centenary theme of highlighting future possibilities by celebrating the past upon which they are built, the BMW i8 Futurism Edition makes perfect sense. The i8, first previewed as a concept car in 2009, has become BMW’s halo car, and will remain so for probably the next five years until introduction of the BMW iNext in 2021.
The car will also be part of BMW’s past-is-future movement when it drives in the Mille Miglia 2016 following the BMW 328 driven by Sergio Solera, President and CEO of BMW Italia. This year’s Mille Miglia takes place from May 19 through May 22. The BMW i8 Futurism Edition cannot compete in the Mille Miglia, since only models that were eligible for the original Mille Miglia races from 1927 to 1957 are allowed to run in the modern event, which is more of a vintage rally rather than a flat-out race.
At first glance, the BMW i8 Futurism Edition appears to be another BMW art car. While it seems only a matter of time before BMW actually sanctions an i8 Art Car, this particular model is not one, even though it features the work of a famous Italian artist.
The art, entitled “Lampada ad Arco” is the work of Giacomo Balla and is replicated on the i8 using a vinyl wrap. Balla’s original currently hangs in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It portrays a street lamp powered by electricity under moonlight. The link to the BMW i8’s hybrid gasoline-electric powertrain is obvious.
Lapo Elkann, President and founder of Garage Italia Customs, which prepared the car, noted, “There was immediate synergy with BMW Italia the very first time we met for the i8 Futurism Edition project. Garage Italia Customs and the BMW brand both share, in fact, all the values connected to technology evolution and the continuous search for innovation in their specific sectors. The BMW i8 Futurism Edition is a practice of style. It gave the Garage Italia Customs maestros a chance to celebrate a car which is projected towards the future of mobility. At the same time, it honors Italian art with Giacomo Balla, who is a prominent figure of the Futurism movement."
"The BMW i8 Futurism Edition," said BMW Italia head Sergio Solero, "represents the pairing of a sports car of the future with Italian creativity and art. For this occasion, we have devised a project with an important partner like Garage Italia Customs, one of the best specialists in car customization. This initiative is a perfect fit with the cultural program which, on the occasion of our celebration of the 50 years of BMW history in Italy, we have developed even further in order to witness to our commitment to and integration in the fabric of the country."
BMW also released a video showing how Garage Italia Customs created the BMW i8 Futurism Edition. The narration is in Italian, but the voiceover is unnecessary to appreciate the craftsmanship.
With regard to BMW Art Cars, of which this one is not, it still raises some interesting questions. Must BMW paint a car to make it an Art Car? Will vinyl, which is becoming more mainstream as a means of customizing a car’s exterior, ever make an acceptable medium for an Art Car artist? The BMW i8 Futurism Edition proves that an artist’s work can be applied to a car using a computer-printed vinyl wrap, so will there ever come a time when BMW offers Art Car vinyl “kits” in its accessories catalog?
Yeah, probably not.—Scott Blazey
[Photos and video courtesy of BMW AG.]
