A prototype of the soon-to-be-unveiled BMW 8 Series coupe was involved in a serious crash in Bavaria on Saturday, killing the passenger.
The driver was apparently able to walk away from the incident and no other vehicles were involved. Authorities say the vehicle was speeding at the time of the incident and the driver subsequently lost control, according to German-language source Bayrischer Rundfunk.
We’ve reached out to BMW for a statement and further details, and on Tuesday June 12, the company responded with the following:
“We were very saddened to learn about this tragic accident involving a BMW 8 Series Coupe prototype. We can confirm that the vehicle was being driven by a BMW associate. We are cooperating with the ongoing police investigation and are therefore unable to comment further at this time.”
It appears that the vehicle flipped multiple times, landing on its right side and blocking access to the passenger door. While the driver was able to climb out of the wreckage, you can see in the video that first responders had to cut through the roof of the mangled prototype to reach the trapped passenger.
The BMW 8 Series is nearing the end of the testing, with the final reveal slated for June 15th at Le Mans. Camouflaged prototypes have been running around for months already, and this may be the first to have crashed on public roads.