As a reward for the club’s unexpected title win during the 2015-16 Premier League season, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, chairman of the Leicester City Football Club, has awarded his players with 19 BMW i8s.
The billionaire had no qualms about dishing out nearly 2 million pounds (RM10,524,196) to purchase the hybrid sports cars for his players, which is priced from 104,540 pounds (RM550,100), each in the United Kingdom.
Originally, the Foxes were promised a B-Class Electric Drive each, but Srivaddhanaprabha decided to go the extra mile to secure something a little sportier. Unfortunately, four players – Joe Dodoo, Andrej Kramaric, Yohan Benalouane and N’Golo Kante – will not be given a key to an i8.
In accordance with the club’s identity, all 19 i8s are painted in a bright shade of blue, with differing wheel designs on some of them. A turbocharged 1.5 litre three-cylinder TwinPower Turbo petrol engine, assisted by an eDrive electric drive system, powers all the cars.
With a total combined output of 362 hp at 5,800 rpm and 570 Nm of torque from 1,200 to 5,000 rpm, the hybrid powertrain is good enough to propel the i8 to 100 km/h from a standstill in just 4.4 seconds, and all the way to a 250 km/h top speed.
With the 2016-17 Premier League season about to kick off real soon, we reckon the Leicester City players are determined to ensure the trophy remains at the King Power Stadium. The ever-generous Srivaddhanaprabha will no doubt have an even greater reward for them should that be the case, but the team’s recent loss to Manchester United in the Community Shield isn’t the best of starts.
The BMW i8 made its local launch debut during the 2015 BMW World Malaysia exhibition, wearing a price tag of RM1,188,800 OTR without insurance. We’ve already sampled the high-tech sports car in Milan, and have even pitted it against the likes of the Mercedes-AMG GT S and Jaguar F-Type R, here.
19 BMW i8 ready for the players following last season's triumph. What a chairman.
U n b e l i e v a b l e.#LCFC ???? pic.twitter.com/YCOJP1tTw8
— Leicester City FC (@FIRST4LCFC) 5 August 2016
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Play football, get BMW.
Play politic, get private jet. Your call.
Play royalty better. Got private jet AND a private yacht
Awesome!!!
My mother used to tell me that playing football after school is waste of time. I gotta get good academic results to have brighter future.
You probably didn’t have talent…
Shhhhh you just shattered his reality
Shud have used that money keep Mahrez instead.
Sayang.. Kante didn’t get it, should have stayed in Leceister for another season. It will be nice to see this team compete and win the Champions League!
do you have any idea how much is Kante making now in Chelsea? this i8 is just a toy car price for him now..
No big deal. Here we give Saga or Bezza ….,,proud of our local brands…
Johor Tiger get blue Axia for each player.
Why wud Johor wanna early afterlife all their expensive players.