For this year’s Paris Motor Show, BMW’s i division decided to revive its collaboration with Garage Italia Customs to create these two CrossFade concepts you see before you today. Based on the i3 and i8, both preview special edition models that will be available at the beginning of 2017.
The CrossFade concepts were inspired by optical colour mixing, a technique already used in Pointillism of the 19th century, in which small, distinct dots of colour are applied in patterns to form an image.
“BMW i automobiles provide our designers with ideal opportunities for an artistic exploration of the future of mobility. The CrossFade project was a great opportunity to create something beyond the traditional idea of car painting, generating amazing effects with a unique geometrical pattern,” said Lapo Elkann, chairman and founder of Garage Italia Customs.
On the i8, the hybrid sports car’s front end is painted Protonic Dark Silver, which smoothly transitions to the Protonic Blue rear via a meticulous application of triangular-shaped dashes of paint. The process involves using a stencil on a car finished in Protonic Blue to create the desired geometrical pattern, before the Protonic Dark Silver paint is applied.
The interior of the i8 Garage Italia CrossFade follows the exterior design, with printed Alcantara textile covering the centre tunnel, side panels and the headliner, and made to offer the same dark silver-blue shift.
As for the i3, the effect happens vertically rather than horizontally on the i8, with Protonic Blue covering the lower portion of the car’s body, and black on top. Similarly, the interior echoes the same colour design as the exterior, with coloured textile and Alcantara surfaces.
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Hideous front design.
You may think that I have ‘sour grape’ feeling. Nope, when I finally decided to purchase my once-in-a-lifetime hypercar, it will be a brandnew Ferrari.
Somehow I agree with you.