Digging through the Internet’s series of tubes every day, I come across some weird, wild stuff. Most of it is unbelievable. However, today I discovered something that might be strange enough to be believed: A rendering of a supposed BMW hydrogen fuel cell car.

More than a clever fanboy rendering, the image is said to come from a leak at the Chinese patent office, according to Pacific Automotive Network, a Chinese-language car site.

Now, what’s intriguing about this reported leak is its striking resemblance to the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car that is now on sale in California.

Image: Pacific Automotive Network

BMW and Toyota have been in a secret partnership for several years, sharing technology, according Autocar. BMW will give Toyota its carbon fiber tech while Toyota will share its hydrogen technology. So this rendering might well be the result of that partnership, at least BMW’s half.

A future BMW fuel cell model could fall in the middle of the newly formed BMW i brand

A future BMW fuel cell model could fall in the middle of the newly formed BMW i brand, which right now is composed of the i3 and the i8. Maybe this little fuel cell number could be the i4?

That said, the image does throw up a few red flags. The windows, for example, are a bit too much Subaru SVX for it to be truly BMW. And the backend looks like a straight rip-off of the Tesla Model X. Despite those details, though, gauging from the images of the hydrogen fuel cell eDrive car BMW tested this summer (shown above and below), the rendering could be a concept for the Chinese market.

Regardless, I thought it intriguing enough to share.

 

 

 

Source: mashable.com