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BMW details Concept X5 eDrive ahead of New York debut

Already weighing more than most other types of vehicles and with the space to accommodate the extra equipment, crossovers and SUVs arguably make for one of the more ideal platforms to transform into a hybrid. And there have been a handful of them - like the Audi Q5, Infiniti QX60/Nissan Pathfinder, Porsche Cayenne/Volkswagen Touareg, Lexus RX450h/Toyota Highlander and Cadillac Escalade/Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon - but by and large the majority of hybrids on the market are sedans and hatchbacks. BMW, however, looks poised to join the minority with the X5.
The Bavarian automaker showcased the X5 eDrive concept at Frankfurt last year, and as promised, has now revealed the followup it will present at the New York Auto Show in just a few days. The new Concept X5 eDrive, as BMW has now revealed, pairs a 2.0-liter turbo four good for 245 horsepower to a 95-hp electric motor to deliver a combined 340 horsepower. Its lithium-ion battery can power it for up to 20 miles and at speeds up to 75 miles per hour before the gasoline engine needs to kick in. All that without sacrificing the vehicle's utility, maintaining an almost perfectly flat loading floor with 40:20:40 split-folding rear seats, and without sacrificing much on performance, either: with a 0-62 time of seven seconds flat, the X5 eDrive concept is quicker off the line than the production X5 with the 2.5-liter turbodiesel and just a tenth off of the 3.0-liter turbodiesel.
With the full technical details now released (you can delve into it all in the press release below), the only question remains when BMW will actually put the X5 eDrive into production. Given its appearance in New York, though, we gather that whenever it does reach showrooms, it'll reach American ones as well.

BMW ready to bring more i3, i8 plug-ins to US

BMW has found a receptive audience for its first batches of plug-in vehicles in the good 'ole USA. The German automaker, which started selling its first mass-produced i plug-ins in Europe late last year, will send a higher percentage of those vehicles to the US because of strong demand here, according to Automotive News, which talked with BMW executive Ian Robertson. And the Americans might cause Bimmer to speed up production, to boot. BMW makes the i3 electric vehicle and i8 plug-in hybrid in Germany, and has sold about 10,000 units of the former and 280 of the latter worldwide. Since August, BMW has been selling about 1,000 i3s a month in the US (it sold just 58 i8s in September). The bigger story, though, may be that Bimmer has sold out of its US allocation of i8s through the end of next year. Pretty heady stuff for a car that starts at around $137,000. Currently, BMW builds around 100 i-series vehicles a day in Germany, and may speed up production of the i8 for the aforementioned reason. As for the i3, which comes with an option of a gas-powered range extender, we'd reported earlier this year that the waitlist for that model had grown to about six months. Our i3 First Drive report is here if you'd like to know what all the fuss is about.

In-demand BMW i8 deliveries start in June, and it's more efficient than we thought

Memo to Elon Musk: objects in the rear-view mirror may be closer than they appear. In this case, it's a couple of plug-in BMWs. And they represent the closest thing to a true competitor for Musk and the Tesla Motors electric vehicles. The German automaker re-confirmed that demand for its upcoming i8 plug-in hybrid will exceed the initial supply batch, though BMW didn't release any specific numbers, Reuters says. BMW will start production next month with deliveries commencing in June for the 362-horsepower i8. The news is consistent with a November estimate from BMW that indicated that the first year of i8s were essentially spoken for in advance. We learned in late January that the number of i3 battery-electric vehicles imported to the US won't meet demand during that vehicle's first year of sales either. Here's the thing: all these people were interested in the i8 when BMW said the car got the equivalent of 94 miles per gallon. Turns out, those calculations were a bit off. Reuters also notes that the new numbers show the i8 gets 112 MPGe. That's on the lenient European cycle, but if anyone was holding out for an i8 with triple-figure fuel economy, your time (to get on the waiting list) has come.Motley Fool proposed late last month that BMW is positioned to be Tesla's only real competition when it comes to high-performance plug-in vehicles. The reasoning was that the BMW plug-ins, like the Teslas, are being built from scratch and don't just have EV powertrains dropped into existing vehicle platforms. Whether or not the competition is truly a two-team race is something we're not sure is completely decided yet, but we know it'll be fun to watch unfold either way. Want proof? Check out Autoblog's enjoyable First Drive of the i8 here.