Three motors, the ability to reach 62mph in 4.8 seconds and 155mph is more than enough to get us excited. Add a combined fuel consumption figure of 75.1mpg and emissions of 99g/km and we're reaching for Friends of the Earth admission forms. If this is environmentalism then we're all for it.
Due to be unveiled in
Frankfurt next month the Vision EfficientDynamics concept gathers all BMW's green thinking and adds it to a design brief that included the words 'M car performance.' The emissions and economy figures would have been impressive enough in their own right, but backed with the sort of numbers that usually require a V8 and a tanker full of fuel to achieve they're extraordinary.
Taking the form of a 2+2 coupé, the Vision EfficientDynamics uses a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder, direct-injected turbodiesel engine combined with two electric motors. The motors work on the front and rear axles, and can be combined with the mid-rear mounted turbodiesel unit in whatever combination best suits the needs of the driver. All-in, the three powerplants produce 351bhp and a thumping 590lb.ft of torque.
The electric motors get their power from a lithium ion battery pack that can be plugged in and charged up at home. It's kept in optimum operating condition on the move by scavenging back energy when the car brakes and coasts and it can even generate electricity from the heat of the small diesel unit's exhaust. Capable of running for 31 miles on electricity alone, the official combined CO
2 emissions drop to just 50g/km when doing so, that figure even taking into account the CO
2 required to produce the electricity that the Vision EfficientDynamics draws from your plug socket.
A new 3D heads-up display, light-reactive darkening polycarbonate glass and lightweight layered construction all feature too. BMW used its F1 expertise to achieve an extremely low drag figure, its swoopy, futuristic styling both cleaving the air and pleasing the eye. We'll see it in all its glory in Frankfurt, where the Vision EfficientDynamics will take centre stage.
Kyle Fortune - 29 Aug 2009
