BMW ActiveHybrid X6 Price

The BMW ActiveHybrid X6 has a new pricetag and it is near the top of the heap when it comes to hybrids. On sale in December, the X6 will have an MSRP of $89,775, which includes the $875 destination and handling charge.

Be glad you aren't in the UK, however. The UK price tag is being set at 102,000 euro (£90,979). That's £37,709 more than the equivalent price in the US. (Source: Autocar)

It seems that US hybrid buyers just aren't willing to pay as much for a hybrid as they are in Europe. "There’s more hybrid competition in the US than in Europe and the price reflects this," according to BMW’s ActiveHybrid X6 project boss, Peter Tuennemann.

The BMW X6 ActiveHybrid is the "BMW of hybrids" and is the most powerful hybrid you can (soon) buy. At 485 hp, nothing else comes close. But no other X6 comes gets the fuel economy figure of 17 mpg city / 19 mpg highway.

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BMW Hybrid Plans

BMW has two hybrids, the ActiveHybrid X6 which is a full hybrid, and the ActiveHybrid 7, which uses a mild hybrid system. And now comes word (Source: BMW plans more hybrid models - Autocar.co.uk) that BMW is working on releasing a third hybrid model sometime in the next eyar.

In the meantime, according to the interview by autocar, BMW project leader Peter Tuennermann revealed quite a bit about their overall hybrid plan, including the observation that no car maker can afford to ignore hybrids.

He also talks about the hybrid types, full and mild. I find the choices BMW made to be very smart. The full model is more complex and requires a larger battery, and so they went with the nickel metal hydride battery pack, which has been around longer and costs less, which drops the overall vehicle price. The mild hybrid, with its needs for rapid recharging, while still being simple, uses the lithium-ion battery pack.

Tuennermann points out 3-, 5- and 7- series are more suited for mild hybrid models, while the X2, X5 and X6 are more likely to end up as full hybrid models because they are larger.

And while he was at it, he addressed the issue of diesel hybrid, making it clear that it is still just a concept for BMW, given its cost.

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Cadillac Converj Becoming a Reality

Speaking of building off of the Volt platform, the Detroit News is saying Cadillac will build a Converj. The Converj was a concept build off of the Volt idea, an Extended Range Electric Vehicle (E-REV).

Cadillac included the Converj in a presentation made to the board on November 2.

It would be years before a Converj could be built, and it would most likely look very little like the concept vehicle presented at the NAIAS, but it makes a lot of sense.

The plug-in hybrid technology built into the Volt is going to be very expensive for GM and the consumers who choose to buy it. The battery pack alone is supposedly going to cost 10 grand. The vehicle is expected to have a price tag around $40 thousand. By building a Volt-like Cadillac, you can expect the customer is OK with paying that much for a car.

"Cadillac needs as much excitement in its portfolio as possible, so I think it's a good strategy for them," said Rebecca Lindland, director of auto industry research at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass.

As long as you're not looking for stupendous sales numbers, the luxury hybrid can do well.  None of the luxury hybrids sold so far can compete with the production of the Prius, but they do very well by luxury car standards. 

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Chrysler Ends ENVI Program

As part of the case for creating a bailout for Chrysler, the new ENVI division was set up last year. Chrysler put together three electric prototypes, and promised that one of them would be in production by 2010. They went on to pledge 500,000 electric vehicles by 2013.

Now that the bailout and bankruptcy is over, however, things have changed.

Chrysler, now owned by Fiat, laid out their five year plan, which will increase fuel efficiency based on Fiat expertise. But very little was said about hybrids or electric vehicles. Dodge will get the hybrid Ram, but if it follows the path of the prior Chrysler hybrids (sold for just two months), don't expect too much.

And now the ENVI division has been 'disbanded.'

"Envi is absorbed into the normal vehicle development program," Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa told Reuters.

"Until the (battery) storage gets resolved, I think electric vehicles are going to struggle," Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said.

Cappa confirmed that the ENVI group no longer exists, but is apparently upset at the term 'disbanded,' saying that the group's members all are still working and that former ENVI chief Lou Rhodes is still in charge of vehicle electrification programs - for both Chrysler and Fiat.

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Hybrid Car Sales, October 2009

Hybrid car sales were up, way up, for the month of October. Sales topped out at 24,275 units, 14.1% higher than last October. Cumulative sales are still down, however at 16.7% below last year at this point.

The biggest sellers were the Toyota Prius, newly redesigned and still on back order in most places. It's nothing compared to the demand in Japan where government backed incentives are pushing Prius sales through the roof, but the high demand continues here in the States.

The only car maker to sell fewer hybrids this October was Nissan, which only offers the Nissan Altima Hybrid.  Nissan has not had a lot of success with Altima Hybrid lately, and it just seems to be getting worse as time goes on.  Like the Accord Hybrid, customers are looking for better things at this point.  Add in the need for any sort of refresh since the Altima debuted, you might as well just buy a Toyota since the hybrid system comes from them, plus the limited availability and lack of any sort of emphasis by Nissan and you end up with a slowly dying Nissan hybrid.

Ford, Honda and GM were all up by 14.3, 21.9, and 20.6%, respectively.  Toyota was up by 15.0 percent, overall.  That has to be a bright spot in the automaker line-ups.  Cumulatively, auto makers hybrid sales are all up, except for Toyota.  Ford, Honda, GM and Nissan are all up by 25.6%, 66.2%, 8.4%, and 4.2%.  But Toyota is down by 26.6% at this point.  Ford, GM, and Honda are up because they have new hybrid models to sell, pushing up the cumulative sales.  Individual model, however, are a different story.

Monthly Sales		October 2008		October 2009		% Change
Make	Model	N	%	N	%
Chrysler	Aspen/Durango	0	0.0	0	0	0
Ford	Escape/Mariner	1,997	9.4	949	3.9	-52.5
Ford	Fusion/Milan	0	0.0	1,333	5.5	0.0
GM	Escalade	230	1.1	186	0.8	-19.1
GM	Silverado/Sierra	0	0.0	167	0.7	0.0
GM	Tahoe/Yukon	565	2.7	606	2.5	7.3
Honda	Accord	1	0.0	0	0.0	-100.0
Honda	Civic	1,621	7.6	239	1.0	-85.3
Honda	Insight	0	0.0	1,739	7.2	0.0
Nissan	Altima	554	2.6	299	1.2	-46.0
Toyota	Camry	2,792	13.1	1,407	5.8	-49.6
Toyota	GS 450h	22	0.1	39	0.2	77.3
Toyota	HS 250h	0	0.0	1,527	6.3	0.0
Toyota	Highlander	1,022	4.8	700	2.9	-31.5
Toyota	LS600hL	55	0.3	21	0.1	-61.8
Toyota	Prius	11,804	55.5	13,496	55.6	14.3
Toyota	RX 400h	615	2.9	1,567	6.5	154.8
Total		21,278		24,275		14.1
Cumulative Sales		Cumulative 2008		Cumulative 2009		% Change
Make	Model	N	%	N	%
Chrysler	Aspen/Durango	0	0	0	0.0	0.0
Ford	Escape/Mariner	17,130	6.0	14,363	6.0	-16.2
Ford	Fusion/Milan	5,403	1.9	13,935	5.8	157.9
GM	Escalade	543	0.2	1,596	0.7	193.9
GM	Silverado/Sierra	467	0.2	1,163	0.5	149.0
GM	Tahoe/Yukon	3,336	1.2	4,462	1.9	33.8
Honda	Accord	193	0.1	1	0.0	-99.5
Honda	Civic	23,497	8.2	14,405	6.0	-38.7
Honda	Insight	5,780	2.0	17,530	7.3	203.3
Nissan	Altima	7,691	2.7	8,012	3.4	4.2
Toyota	Camry	38,776	13.5	19,909	8.3	-48.7
Toyota	GS 450h	616	0.2	378	0.2	-38.6
Toyota	HS 250h	2,769	1.0	3,312	1.4	19.6
Toyota	Highlander	16,420	5.7	9,335	3.9	-43.1
Toyota	LS600hL	769	0.3	228	0.1	-70.4
Toyota	Prius	148,558	51.9	118,290	49.6	-20.4
Toyota	RX 400h	14,419	5.0	11,656	4.9	-19.2
Total		286,367		238,575		-16.7

Individually, the hybrid car sales are down, as more option lead to more diversity in the purchases. Honda hybrid buyers seem to opting for the Insight, leaving the Civic behind. Hybrid SUV sales are also down by 9.5%.

Related:
Hybrid Car Sales, October 2008
Hybrid Car Sales, September 2009

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Rolls Royce Ghost Hybrid

Rolls Royce is working on a mild version of the Ghost, its luxury saloon. The mild hybrid technology will come from the work on the BMW ActiveHybrid 7. Given the 7 and the Ghost share the same rear-wheel drive platform, the 'engineering on the Ghost hybrid has been fairly straightforward.' (Source:Autocar.co.uk)

The hybrid system is mild, which means it won't be able to travel on all electric power. It will have a start-stop system withe regenerative brakes to help recharge the lithium-ion battery.

The mileage is expected to improve by 15 percent over the non-hybrid version, while also making mild improvements to the performance with the added power from the electric motor.

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GM Already Thinking of Taking Volt Tech to Other Vehicles

GM will be 'taking the Volt technology to other vehicles,' not attempting to brand the Volt the way Toyota is looking to expand the Prius brand according to GM officials. Source: Reuters.

But, I disagree with the author of that news story. Toyota hasn't expanded the Prius brand, but has taken the hybrid synergy drive and placed it into many of its vehicles (and even in other automakers vehicles... see the Nissan Altima).

There have been rumors to the affect that Toyota will be building on the Prius name and creating a Prius line of cars, but it hasn't happened yet. And GM could end up following the same tack if the Volt becomes iconic in the way the Prius has.

"Our thought is to take the Volt technology to other products," Brent Dewar, chief of global operations for Chevrolet, told the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit.

"The Volt was the original vehicle that we started, but I wouldn't see that as a brand marketing direction for us," he said.

We'll see what happens a decade from now when the Volt has become established.

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