There’s a new cop car in town, and this one’s a tree hugger. Famous German BMW tuner AC Schnitzer has commissioned a unique police patrol concept car based on the new BMW i8 Coupé. As you can clearly tell, it gets quite the makeover.
To start, the styling of this i8 adheres to the ‘form follows function’ principle – it gets a new front diffuser, side wings and custom-made bonnet that are all made out of carbon-fibre. There’s also CF side skirts, a three-part carbon-fibre rear diffuser to improve underbody suction effect as well as a fixed carbon-fibre racing wing for added downforce.
Rounding off the exterior aerodynamic pack are CF door handle shells, CF side mirror caps and special AC Schnitzer kidney grille with flashy blue LEDs. Of course, the top of the vehicle now benefits from a high-powered Hella light bar, and the patrol vehicle itself is wrapped in striking blue and yellow livery. It sits on the AC1 21-inch lightweight wheel set (available in anthracite), which shaves off 4.4 kg of weight per wheel!
Inside, a set of aluminium paddle shifters, aluminium foot pedals and aluminium cover for the iDrive system are fitted. Other than that, everything else remains stock.
Performance-wise, the i8 runs on the latest BMW eDrive plug-in hybrid system, drawing power from a 1.5 litre three-cylinder petrol engine that makes 228 hp and 320 Nm of torque, with drive sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed Steptronic transmission. The engine is married to a 141-hp (105 kW) electric motor that drives the front wheels, and the e-motor continues to be linked to a two-speed automatic gearbox.
As per the i8 facelift, there’s a bigger 355-volt battery with increased cell capacity (34 Ah from the previous 20 Ah) and higher gross energy capacity (11.6 kWh from 7.1 kWh). The result is more electric range, which is now rated at 55 km, or 50% more than its predecessor.
AC Schnitzer has yet to tinker with performance, but the i8 is pretty capable as is. With an overall system output of 369 hp, the i8 Coupé sprints from nought to 100 km/h in just 4.4 seconds, and goes on to an electronically-limited top speed of 250 km/h (same as before).
However, the tuning firm did lower the cop car by 20 mm thanks to a new spring kit, and said the new setup ensures driving stability in all cornering situations. In fact, the car has been tested on the north loop of the Nürburging, as well as on public roads.
The AC Schnitzer BMW i8 is part of the Tune It! Safe! campaign organised by the Association of German Automobiles Tuners, which is supported by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. The campaign, which sees a special police concept vehicle presented every year since 2005, aims to combat illegal and unsafe tuning. This marks AC Schnitzer’s fifth participation in the initiative.
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In Malaysia all cop cars are Protons mainly Saga, Inspira and Waja.
And yet, Proton can only sell 54,000 cars this year.
With that, it shows your stupidity when you said last time most P1 are cop cars
Arent u the same guy that said majority of P1 sales wuz from gov fleet but then PT burst ur fake news bubble when they repoted 97.5% sales comes from retail end customers?
Woi Schnitzer! Make the roof lights slimmer la. Too fat and spoils the rest of the nice touches.