More and more details are emerging about an electrified supercar thought to be in the works at BMW as the replacement for the i8.

In an interview with Autocar published Wednesday, BMW R&D boss Klaus Froehlich said he has the desire to develop a supercar and that electrification could be the key to the project being approved.

“If you are an engineer, once in your life, you want to make a super-sports car,” he said. “I think partial electrification will enable that.”

He added that a combination of compact yet powerful electric motors, a high-performance internal-combustion engine, and a lightweight chassis could result in a “real performance package.”

Klaus Fröhlich

Froehlich's latest comments follow those he made last October, where he said the current i8's chassis is the ideal basis for a supercar, due to its low weight and rigid design.

Autocar estimates that the BMW supercar could arrive by 2023. The British publication also notes that the car's output would have to exceed the expected 620 horsepower of the soon-to-be-launched BMW M8.

We’d hold off writing that deposit check just yet, since there are still plenty of obstacles to the car’s development, but given the number of hints from senior execs it's probably only a matter of time until the green light is given. It's been too long since BMW last sold a proper supercar.