Impressive as the BMW i8 is as a showcase of technology, there's only that much ground it can cover from a reach perspective – a sports car undoubtedly gets a lot of attention and its tech noticed, but accessibility is always going to be an issue given the stratospheric leanings and limited sampling scope.
The move to take its plug-in hybrid tech from the i sub-brand to a wider audience comes in the form of a SAV - the BMW X5 xDrive40e has the honour of being the automaker's first BMW core brand PHEV offering.
Originally presented as the BMW Concept X5 eDrive, the vehicle officially broke cover in March. Series production is set to begin on August 1 at Spartanburg, not a moment too soon given that Mercedes-Benz has arguably already stolen the march with the deployment of its S 500 e and C 350 e plug-ins.
Munich has been moving quickly to cover ground in this regard – the X5 may be the first, but it isn't going to be the only type of its kind for long. The G11 7 Series 740e and 3 Series 330e has been announced and a 2 Series AT plug-in has also been unveiled in protoype form, but until they come along, the X5 plug-in is the very much the flag bearer. We find out just how good the spearhead is.
Read more of this post
No comments:
Post a Comment