Nearly 10 years since the first hybrids hit US roads, BMW and Mercedes both announced pricing this week for their first gas-electric hybrids arriving in showrooms this month. The BMW ActiveHybrid X6 will sell for $89,725. The Mercedes ML 450 Hybrid will only be offered on a lease of $659 a month for 36 months, or $549 a month for 60 months.
BMW announced today that its first hybrid, the ActiveHybrid X6, will make its world premier at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, and will arrive in US showrooms in late 2009. BMW will also show the ActiveHybrid 7—which will reach the US in Spring 2010—in Frankfurt. The two BMW vehicles once again beg the question: Isn’t using less petroleum supposed to be the point of a hybrid?
BMW’s first hybrid scheduled to hit the market, the 2010 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid, is moving closer to production. We have exclusive spy photos taken this morning, near BMW’s Spartenburg, SC manufacturing facility. The company’s test driver said the X6 hybrid vehicles are starting to roll off the production line and will be introduced at the end of this year.
Just five years ago, only Toyota and Honda offered hybrid gas-electric vehicles—the Prius and Insight, respectively. Now, there are more than a dozen carmakers—including Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen—that offer, or have plans for, hybrids. Here’s a roundup of news just over the last few days about hybrids coming from the homeland of Rudolph Diesel.
BMW presented a pair of hybrids yesterday—both packed with V8 engines—at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The old news is the BMW X6 full hybrid crossover, which debuted last year in Frankfurt. The new item is the BMW 7-series mild hybrid concept, which promises a 15 percent reduction in fuel consumption. (Yawn.)
Volkswagen grabbed headlines when it unveiled the diesel-electric VW Golf Hybrid—a vehicle that promises 70 miles to the gallon—at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. But based on candid talk from German engineers, Volkswagen, BMW and Porsche are not serious about hybrids. Currently, there is not a single German-made hybrid available to American car buyers.
BMW will introduce a mild hybrid diesel concept vehicle—based on the BMW X5—at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show in March. The seven-passenger vehicle, which will utilize a 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engine, promises 36 miles to the gallon and 200 horsepower. "This is no pie-in-the-sky project," said Klaus Draeger, head of development at BMW. "All of the features are production-feasible."
