BMW believes the Aussie market will be dominated by diesels.
Australia should have a diesel future within six years.
BMW Australia boss Guenther Seemann believes the local car industry
will follow Europe and become 80 per cent diesel, but only if Holden and
Ford produce oil-burning Commodores and Falcons.
“If I were CEO of these companies I would develop a diesel V8,” Seemann says.
His comments come after BMW's own sales of diesels hit 33.1 per cent in January as the brand expands its diesel line-up.
Seemann believes diesel will continue to grow because “there is no
way down for petrol prices." The other factor in diesel growth, he says,
is the advances in performance.
BMW has entered the high-performance, four-wheel-drive fray with its
new X5 3.0sd, a twin-turbo version of its six-cylinder diesel.
It is aimed at taking on the sports-orientated diesel
four-wheel-drives, including the Audi Q7 V8 TDI, Volkswagen Touareg V10
TDI and Range Rover V8 Turbo Diesel.
Though BMW reps concede the new model will take some sales from its
current X5 3.0d, they are adamant the new car is crucial to the growth
of the X5 and BMW's diesel future.
“X5 business is very important to us,” the product and market planning manager for BMW Australia, David Lederer, says.
“There's potential to grow that business by having a diesel that can get additional incremental sales.”
He says thanks to the fuel efficiency of the diesels now being matched by performance, customers no longer see them as a compromise.
“That's what our figures are showing. Diesel offerings are so good in
terms of torque that I don't think people are buying them just because
of efficiency. I think people are responding to the torque and
dynamism.”
On the road, the new X5 3.0sd is as expected. The strong chassis
still stands out and the new engine provides even more of a chance to
exploit it.
BMW's solid reputation for building superb powerplants remains
intact. The X5 is smooth and has plenty of torque to get the two-tonne
four-wheel-drive up to speed.
With 565Nm on tap from 2000 revs, the X5 isn't sluggish to
accelerate, but it does lack some of the punch of the Touareg with its
750Nm.
BMW's claimed consumption figure of 8.8 litres for 100km in combined
city/country driving was optimistic during our test drive. Over the
course of four hours of spirited driving on country roads, we averaged
11.7 litres for 100km.
Given that this is another addition to the X5 range, BMW has kept the
model line-up simple with only two variants; a standard 3.0sd and the
option of a sports package.
Prices for the entry-level 3.0sd start at $102,800 and the sports package begins at $107,300.
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