{"id":84240,"date":"2025-11-21T14:37:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=84240"},"modified":"2025-11-21T14:37:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:37:35","slug":"bmw-bigfoot-prototype-i3-design-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=84240","title":{"rendered":"BMW\u2019s Secret \u201cBigfoot\u201d Prototype Shaped the i3\u2019s Radical Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW\u2019s most unconventional ideas seldom appear out of thin air. They often begin as even stranger experiments hidden deep within the brand\u2019s design archives. Long before the i3 became BMW\u2019s quirky, eco-forward statement piece, the company was already wrestling with bold questions surrounding urban mobility and renewable materials. One early design study, dubbed \u201cBigfoot,\u201d pushed those ideas further than most realize. And while the world never saw this prototype on the road, it quietly set the stage for one of BMW\u2019s most unique production cars.<\/p>\n

The BMW i3 and an Unlikely Link to \u201cBigfoot\u201d<\/h3>\n

While \u201cBigfoot\u201d probably isn\u2019t the first thing you think of when you lay eyes on the tiny electric BMW i3<\/a> (the old <\/em>one, mind you), a concept dubbed exactly that lent much of its design to the intrepid little city car. Project Bigfoot \u2014 which we don\u2019t have any pictures of (yet?) \u2014 featured a single door, which later became a rear-hinged door in the i3. Like the i3, it was a bubble shaped car that relied on renewable materials like wood. Oversized wheels and a small footprint (despite its misleading name) \u2014 after all, Bigfoot was designed as a megacity vehicle, a similar niche the i3 occupied \u2014 further draws comparison to the i3 we know and love.<\/p>\n

Bigfoot\u2019s name illustrates one of the underlying concepts behind why it exists in the first place. A Designworks spokesperson discusses how size and design are intertwined. \u201cScale for us is also an attitude. It doesn\u2019t necessarily need to be about the actual size.\u201d He goes on to say that Bigfoot was a collaboration with Munich\u2019s engineering team. While the design exercise was, in theory, a global collaboration, Bigfoot looks the way it does in part because of Designworks\u2019 California locale. Much of Bigfoot\u2019s design inspiration came from the studio\u2019s architecture and the things around it. Drawing inspiration from California, the design team apparently asked themselves \u201chow can you create a living space on wheels?\u201d The spokesperson said influences included tiny houses, which were popular in California at the time. The results included unorthodox materials like corrugated steel and wood panels. And, an interior that mimicked what the production i3 ended up with.<\/p>\n

Bigfoot\u2019s Influence on the i3 is a Design Reminder<\/h3>\n

The BMW i3, even today, is a style statement. And for Designworks, Bigfoot\u2019s relationship to the little electric city car is a reminder. While Bigfoot never went into production strictly as-is, that\u2019s almost irrelevant. \u201cThe i3 probably would not have become such an innovative, radical design without this input,\u201d the same Designworks spokesperson said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t translate it literally, but it\u2019s giving you an idea of how far we go and push and look for new ideas.\u201d What better car showcases that principle than the i3? After all, even years after production has ended, the car still attracts fans and detractors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BMW\u2019s most unconventional ideas seldom appear out of thin air. They often begin as even stranger experiments hidden deep within the brand\u2019s design archives. Long before the i3 became BMW\u2019s quirky, eco-forward statement piece, the company was already wrestling with bold questions surrounding urban mobility and renewable materials. One early design study, dubbed \u201cBigfoot,\u201d pushed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}