BMW has officially introduced the first two models from their new green sub brand, the BMW i3 and i8 concepts, one month ahead of their official premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

The new BMW i-Brand will be launched on the market in 2013 and all cars will feature a special construction principle named LifeDrive which consists of two modules simply called Life and Drive.

The small BMW i3 Concept will be the first all electric car from BMW to go into production and it’s based on the Mega City Vehicle concept that was unveiled by the automaker from Bavaria many months ago. The i3 will be powered by an electric motor mounted on the rear axle that’s able to produce 125 kW or about 170 hp and a maximum torque of 250 Nm enough to take this car from 0 t0 100 km/h in just 8 seconds.

The BMW i8 concept will be a bit more powerful than the i3 and will feature the same electric motor as the i3, this time mounted on the front axle and a small 1.5liter turbocharged engine that’s going to add a bit more power to the car to a total power output of 164 kW/220 HP and 300 Nm of torque. This is more than enough to reach a top speed electronically limited at 250 km/h and to get a fuel economy of under 3 liter/100 km or around 94 mpg.

On the BMW i3 the Drive module consists of the power train, suspension, battery and aluminum structure of the car while the Life module includes the passenger cell and body paneling with high strength carbon fiber reinforced plastic. On the i8 the Drive unit includes the front and rear axles, battery and passenger cell while the Life module is made of the rest of the car.