BMW Group Malaysia today unveiled their latest offering that is their ActiveHybrid 3 (F30h) and ActiveHybrid 5 (F10h), which are fundamentally the integration of Hybrid technology into both their 3 Series (F30) and 5 Series (F10) sedans respectively. In addition, BMW also brings their Vision ConnectedDrive Concept car to the heart of Kuala Lumpur at the Pavilion on level three.
On hand to present the latest in BMW innovation to the press were Dr. Gerhard Pils (Managing Director of BMW Group Malaysia), Mr. Raymond Tan (Marketing Director of BMW Group Malaysia), Sashi Ambi (Corporate Communications Manager of BMW Group Malaysia) and Mr. Kidd Yam (Product Manager of BMW Group Malaysia).
The Vision ConnectedDrive Concept car happens to be BMW’s idea for the future that will allow for advanced driver assistance, real time traffic information and future mobile device connectivity.
Driver information has been segregated into three distinct areas for this 2-seater open-top roadster, which are safety, infotainment and comfort in order to keep the driver well and truly connected.
Added to its revolutionary good looks, the roadster has alternating light bands of green, blue and red which symbolises the transfer of information from each system to another.
The hood shows off a stylised opening that’s designed to help focus the driver’s attention to the road while the car optimizes and prioritizes the flow of information to the driver with its 3-dimensional Head-up Display (HUD) in the windscreen, a freely programmable instrument cluster and an additional monitor for the front passenger for optimized practicality and safety.
With marques becoming more focused on providing more efficient vehicles that still retains the ‘fun factor’ in drivability, it made sense for BMW to finally jump onto the hybrid bandwagon that can now be had on both their 3 and 5 series executive sedans – for the time being of course.
BMW boasts that their ActiveHybrid technology combines everything necessary to excel in all aspects of hybrid disciplines of output, fuel efficiency, range, all-electric top speed, acceleration as well as internal space to include luggage capacity.
Both the ActiveHybrid 3 and 5 retain their multi-award winning in-line 6-cyliner petrol engine with BMW’s TwinPower Turbo Technology powerplant that features a twin-scroll turbocharger, High Precision Injection and Valvetronic variable inlet valve lift control including Double-VANOS that’s found in both the current 335i and 535i.
You’d probably already know this, but the engine is very much capable of dishing out a potent 306bhp and 400Nm of torque, except now it comes with a 40kW (55bhp) electric motor that’s able to produce an additional 210Nm of torque.
All that now enables the ActiveHybrid 3 and 5 to reach 100kmh in just 5.3s and 5.9s respectively. Their average fuel consumption is now rated by BMW as being just 5.9L/100km for the 3 and 6.8L/100km for the 5 and CO2 emissions for the ActiveHybrid 3 lies at 139gm/km and 160gm/km for the ActiveHybrid 5.
That’s not all folks because both vehicles have been provided with an 8-speed automatic transmission that has an electric-motor integrated into its housing which will enable you to putter around silently in congested city roads purely on electric propulsion.
However, if required, it will work in conjunction with the combustion engine to offer that extra power for acceleration purposes which means total power output now lies at 340bhp and 450Nm of toque.
BMW says that when on purely electric propulsion, you’ll be able to travel up to 4km with a maximum speed of 60kmh. However, if you’re on ECO PRO mode, then you’ll be able to experience some speedy stealth mode where the combustion engine gets turned off while you cruise up to 160kmh – depending on electric power reserves of course. In order to do so, the vehicle uses the stored kinetic energy via the Brake Energy Regeneration technology infused into the car.
However, even if you’re in either COMFORT of SPORT mode, BMW says that you’ll still be able to experience the same thing, except it only gets up to a maximum of 80kmh.
Now BMW builds upon their highly successful BMW Advance Diesel models that were introduced to us since 2009 and comprises about 30% of MW Group Malaysia’s total annual sales.
In order to claim ownership of either of these highly efficient thoroughbreds, you’ll need to dig into your pockets, and dig deep you will with the BMW ActiveHybrid 3 requiring you to fork out RM538,800 and RM648,000 for BMW ActiveHybrid 5.
If you’d like to lay your eyes upon BMW’s Vision ConnectedDrive Concept car located at Pavilion, it’ll be there till this Sunday, 28th October 2012.
http://youtu.be/ZxwGTfAGQ6M
http://youtu.be/2Vvu9529L7M
