The BMW i8 began inching down production lines at BMW's Leipzig plant in 2014. Five years later, Leipzig workers have celebrated building the 20,000th example of the i brand's second offering and flagship product. A German customer will be the owner of the celebratory model, one of the i8 Roadster Ultimate Sophisto Editions the automaker debuted at the Geneva Motor Show this year. There are only 400 Ultimate Sophisto models planned for global consumption, 200 i8 Roadsters and 200 i8 Coupes. Each get upgrades like Sophisto Grey exterior paint with E-Copper accents, exclusive 20-inch wheels with E-Copper accents, an E-Copper Leather interior and special badging.

The standard powertrain goes unchanged in the special edition. A 1.5-liter three-cylinder with 228 horsepower gets assistance from a 141-horsepower electric motor powered by a 11.6-kWh lithium-ion battery for a total system output of 369 hp and 420 pound-feet of torque.

BMW will produce the Sophisto models until the end of production, programmed for next April. The automaker hasn't said anything definitive about what might replace the i8. BMW has said a successor might not slot in as a direct follow-up to the M8, and the obvious choice would be to work up a production version of the Vision M Next. Earlier this year, Automobile said that's what's happening, with a mid-engined coupe called the i12 on the way with a 671-hp system horsepower and a whopping 135-kWh battery. The M division is on the cusp of admitting its standalone M car project, which might or might not be the i12, and has already confessed that an electrified M car is not far away, so there are a few ways this could go, whenever it happens.

The BMW i8 has always been difficult to pigeonhole. It's not a supercar, though it boasts some serious performance credentials with a 0-60 time of a little over four seconds. It wasn't really designed to attract eco-friendly car buyers, though it does plug in, and is powered by an intriguing hybrid powertrain and can travel solely on electricity for short trips. And now that the final example has rolled down the assembly line in Leipzig, Germany, it's hard to fully determine how successful the i8 has been for BMW.

As a strikingly styled rolling testament to BMW's technology, the i8's carbon fiber-intensive structure and upward scissor-opening doors were sufficiently appealing to attract exactly 20,500 buyers over the course of the car's six years of production. We can't say how much (if any) profit BMW was able to extract from the i8's nearly $150,000 base price (or nearly $165,000 for the Roadster variant), but we do believe the automaker's engineers when they say they have learned a lot about high-tech construction techniques and battery technologies through the i series of vehicles.

The i8 you see above is the final i8 to roll down the assembly line. According to BMW Blog, it's the only i8 painted in that lovely shade of Portimao Blue (though owners would be free to paint theirs up to match, if they so desired). It's one of 18 final builds that the automaker says were designed with input from the BMW i8 Club. We're sad to see it go, but we're looking forward to what's next.