The production i8 entered manufacture in April 2014, carrying the i3's LifeDrive architecture into a sports car: an aluminium chassis, a carbon-fibre passenger cell and butterfly doors. Fully equipped it weighed around 1,540 kg — remarkable for an all-wheel-drive hybrid.

Its powertrain combined a 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder driving the rear axle with an electric motor on the front, together making 275 kW (369 hp), 0–100 km/h in 4.4 seconds and 2.1 L/100 km on the NEDC cycle. The battery grew from 7.1 to 11.6 kWh and electric range from 37 to 55 km. In May 2018 the I12 coupé was joined by the I15 roadster with a fabric folding roof. Production ended in June 2020 after 16,581 coupés and 3,884 roadsters, making the i8 the best-selling plug-in hybrid sports car of its era.