MANILA, Philippines – Luxury car brands BMW and Lexus displayed ultra high-end cars at the Philippine International Motoring Show 2016 on Wednesday, September 14. 

The German automaker showcased the BMW i8, a hybrid supercar with styling that’s straight out of a sci-fi film. It’s powered by a 357-horsepower hybrid petrol and electric engine, with about a third of the total output coming from the latter. 

All manners of fancy tech bubble underneath the futuristic exterior laced with uncommon car-building materials. But among the most important are the technologies that let it harness energy from both braking and combustion-powered acceleration. This allows the car to recharge the reserve for the car’s electric motor, thereby extending the distance it can travel before having to plug in at a charging station. 

It is said that technologies such as these allow the i8 to break the notions that hybrid cars can’t be exciting or that performance cars can’t be efficient. Validating the car are multiple awards from outlets such as Top Gear, which gave it the “Car of the Year” award in 2014, and The World Car Awards, which gave it the “2015 World Green Car Award.”

The Lexus LC500h

Toyota’s luxury division, Lexus, showcased a hybrid supercar too: the LC500h. With a 354-horsepower rating, it’s roughly as powerful as the i8. It uses advanced materials that help lessen the weight. LC500h trumpets the “Multi Stage Hybrid System” that uses two electric motors and an extra automatic transmission.

These innovations are said to improve the driving feel of electric car. Beyond that, this setup allows for electric-only driving up to 140 km/h – a step-up from the 100 km/h older Lexus hybrids, such as the LS600h and GS450h, according to Car And Driver magazine. 

The car is expected to come out a year from now. We’ll see then if the LC500h can garner some recognition too. What’s exciting is that even if these cars may oftentimes feel like cars for the rich and famous, their respective attempts to blaze a trail are admirable. As in any tech category, the high-end innovations eventually find their way to the mass market. 

If today’s belief that electric motors cause much less emission than petrol engines holds up, the hope is one day we’ll be relying on electric engines completely. – Rappler.com