BMW’s Burkhard Göschel promised, “The technologies will be adapted to the individual vehicle models.” He said, “The participating brands will retain their distinctive characters.” The BMW Concept X6 ActiveHybrid, unveiled at the 2007 Frankfurt auto show, gives shape to the company’s distinctive interpretation of the full-hybrid technology. It could be BMW’s first hybrid to hit the U.S. market, maybe sometime in 2009 or 2010. The conventional X6 is expected in 2009.
The BMW X6 is a cross-over SUV that has crossed over into sports car territory. The company calls the vehicle a “sport activity coupe.” Its chief characteristics are a sleek profile, sloping roof line, low-slung stance, short front overhang, long rear overhang, long wheelbase, muscular wheel arches, large wheels, four-wheel drive, stability control, and lots of performance. The X6 will probably get the 350-horsepower 4.8-liter V8 engine currently supplied in the X5. There’s no SUV pretense that the X6 will be taken off-road.
The two-mode full hybrid—which appear in American form as the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon, and the hemi-powered Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango—has been BMW-ized in the X6 hybrid. The two-mode’s motors, batteries, gearsets and sophisticated software should add up to a 20 percent fuel efficiency improvement over the conventional X6. Exact numbers are a few years away.
When we spoke with Tom Purves, chairman and CEO for BMW of North America, at last year’s Detroit Auto Show, he said “A BMW customer may not be desperately worried about paying his gasoline bill. But he would like to have bragging rights that his new 7 series doesn't just go fast, it actually uses a bit less fuel." The BMW X6 ActiveHybrid is another example of how the company is keeping its focus on luxury and performance, while integrating slow steady fuel efficiency improvements which, by the way, come with the package. It’s a BMW first, and a hybrid second.
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