Right Lane Cruiser
11-17-2009, 07:42 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/European_Union_Flag.jpg BMW wades into uncharted market waters with performance luxury gas-electric SUV. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/reviews/a-game-changing-bmw-hybrid/article1365554/)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_BMW_ActiveHybrid_X6.jpgMichael Bettencourt - THEGLOBEANDMAIL (http://www.theglobeandmail.com) - November 16, 2009
Just how effectively can this monster hybrid be hypermiled? Will owners care? --Ed.
Super-powerful, but a fuel-saving hybrid powertrain. Practical four doors, but constrained rear headroom and cargo space. Sophisticated styling, but basically identical with much-cheaper X6 models. A performance vehicle, made luxuriously silent.
There may have never been as many dichotomies inherent in one vehicle as in the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid.
“This vehicle will fundamentally change the view of hybrid vehicles,” said Peter Tunnermann, the X6 hybrid's project director, at the vehicle's international launch in Miami, just weeks before the car is to go on sale in Canada in mid-December.
This is the first hybrid BMW will sell in North America, and the first full hybrid it has introduced to the world (a mild hybrid 7-Series is on sale in Europe now, and coming here in the spring).
That “full” hybrid designation for the X6 means it can travel along on only electric power, temporarily emitting nothing from the tailpipe, not only from a start but at speeds up to about 60 km/h as well. Mild hybrids give the internal combustion engine a kick in the pants of electric boost, but the electric juice is never enough to motivate the vehicle on its own.
The X6 ActiveHybrid is also the first result for BMW of its collaboration with Daimler, Chrysler and GM on the two-mode hybrid system. If you're wondering why BMW is just now starting to introduce products with this advanced two-mode system, while GM came out with it in 2007, it's because GM initiated the project and then brought in... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/reviews/a-game-changing-bmw-hybrid/article1365554/
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2010_BMW_ActiveHybrid_X6.jpgMichael Bettencourt - THEGLOBEANDMAIL (http://www.theglobeandmail.com) - November 16, 2009
Just how effectively can this monster hybrid be hypermiled? Will owners care? --Ed.
Super-powerful, but a fuel-saving hybrid powertrain. Practical four doors, but constrained rear headroom and cargo space. Sophisticated styling, but basically identical with much-cheaper X6 models. A performance vehicle, made luxuriously silent.
There may have never been as many dichotomies inherent in one vehicle as in the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid.
“This vehicle will fundamentally change the view of hybrid vehicles,” said Peter Tunnermann, the X6 hybrid's project director, at the vehicle's international launch in Miami, just weeks before the car is to go on sale in Canada in mid-December.
This is the first hybrid BMW will sell in North America, and the first full hybrid it has introduced to the world (a mild hybrid 7-Series is on sale in Europe now, and coming here in the spring).
That “full” hybrid designation for the X6 means it can travel along on only electric power, temporarily emitting nothing from the tailpipe, not only from a start but at speeds up to about 60 km/h as well. Mild hybrids give the internal combustion engine a kick in the pants of electric boost, but the electric juice is never enough to motivate the vehicle on its own.
The X6 ActiveHybrid is also the first result for BMW of its collaboration with Daimler, Chrysler and GM on the two-mode hybrid system. If you're wondering why BMW is just now starting to introduce products with this advanced two-mode system, while GM came out with it in 2007, it's because GM initiated the project and then brought in... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/new-cars/reviews/a-game-changing-bmw-hybrid/article1365554/