This 1984 BMW 3 Series is not as it seems.
Whereas the old E30 was famed for its silky-smooth straight-six engines, this yuppie-mobile has something altogether more interesting under the bonnet.
That's because this green Beemer, named the e-M3, is a technological showcase for a small Croation car company called Rimac.
You may remember us telling you about the new Rimac Concept_One electric supercar, which goes on display next month at London's Salon Prive. Well, the founder of the company, Mate Rimac, is using this old Beemer to demonstrate the technology which will eventually be fitted to the £640,000 supercar.
This means that this humble BMW will go from 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 173mph thanks to its 600bhp electric motor.
Rimac has been developing the electric BMW for years, and the car is now in its fifth development phase. He was originally inspired to create an all-electric 3 Series after his own petrol-powered model blew up a few years ago.
Rimac said, "The old BMW has gone through five development phases. Every time we changed almost everything. The power electronics, motors and battery-packs have been replaced each time with more compact, lighter and more powerful developments. The car got faster, lighter and more reliable each time. After three years of development, the first Rimac mule car, the e-M3 became one of the fastest and most exciting electric cars in the world. We realized that there wasn’t much BMW in that car left – this was the trigger for me to develop a car from scratch."
Enter the Concept_One...
