BMW displays new biodiesel compatible vehicles at Frankfurt
Posted By RichC on September 17, 2009
The 2009 X5 35d and 2009 335d
The Frankfurt Automotive show is one of the biggest in the world and is a good place for diesel vehicle makers to show their new ideas. BMW is no exception, having debuted a couple new and very impressive twin-turbo diesel in the U.S. this year — my comments. One of the pluses is that according to Biodiesel Magazine, their new models are ready for biodiesel, such as the concept diesel-plugin-hybrid below.
Receiving a lot of attention is the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car. This futuristic vehicle is a diesel hybrid plug-in, but costs a fortune to make. The powertrain provides acceleration to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.8 seconds, and its average fuel consumption is near 62.6 miles per gallon, BMW reported. “This is a very far look into the future,” [Dirk Arnold, BMW product communications manager] said. “Maybe this would be possible for production with some completely new diesel engine or other new technology, but for the next five years the advantage of combining diesel and electric systems is relatively low compared to the tremendous cost.”
One of BMW’s brands, the popular sports hatchback Mini, is entering the diesel market with a new model being presented in Frankfurt. “The broad range of new models is being rounded off by the world debut of the Mini One D, a new entry-level diesel consistently upgrading the Mini portfolio of particularly economical and efficient models,” BMW said.
“Engineers have been working continuously with the technical aspects of biodiesel, and blends of seven percent to 12 percent work in our motors with no problem at all,” Arnold told Biodiesel Magazine on the opening morning of the show.
Although BMW is putting advertising dollars into their premium priced ‘select’ U.S. available diesel models, I’d like to see a few mid-priced options available in diesel too. It’s hard to convince the average U.S. consumer to spend $50-60K for the BMW X5 35d SUV when they can buy a new gasoline powered Domestic or Asian SUV for $30K. For diesel vehicle to win over middle America, there will need to be more modestly priced mid-sized cars and utilitarian diesel vehicles.
Comments