Then again, perhaps not. To me, the i8 will always be a massively underappreciated left-field gem, and you have to imagine BMW would have sold a damn sight more if, instead of a Mini triple, it had squeezed an 8000rpm six into that sci-fi body.
Thus die Kehrtwende – the U-turn. AMG is now choreographing a juicy one. They happen from time to time when a manufacturer pushes ill-advised tech (it always makes sense on paper) onto a product that is, in certain ways, property of the card-carrying owner-base – if not in terms of intellectual property then spiritually.
Porsche once tried this by making the 911 GT3 PDK-only. GT division boss Andreas Preuninger said something about everyone at Porsche loving to shift gears manually but loving being fastest ‘even more’.
True, the PDK is military-grade in its ability to pop off a 9000rpm upshift. But given the driver-centric bent of the GT3 and the fact even the prior manual model could blow your socks off, speed really wasn’t everything (as Preuninger well knew).
A stink was duly kicked up. Values of the limited, manual-only 911 R touching a million quid – true madness – also focused minds in Stuttgart. So Porsche did the decent thing and reintroduced the manual.
At this point, you’re probably expecting me to tell you that barely any of us bought these manual GT3s, yet since its rehabilitation, the three-pedal model has sold well. It will be a similar story with any V8-engined C63, and especially the CLE, with its AMG-stuff-of- nightmares aesthetic to match the woofle.
Of course, disruptiveness often works. Four- wheel drive for the M3? Superb. Turbocharging the 911 Carrera? Unexpectedly good. Paddles in mid-engined Ferraris? Great, eventually. V10 in an Audi wagon? Er, yeah, why the hell not.
As for what’s next, it depends on what you class as a U-turn. The Emira was meant to have a short run as the final oil-fired Lotus but now a hybrid is mooted. Bentley is another that has pushed back plans to go fully electric and now is investing in V8-hybrid powertrains.
