We have run this story before but as WorldCarFans are at the Geneva show for the official launch we thought we would have a recap. We also have a video to go along with the launch for your viewing. As fuel prices rise, car manufacturers are pushed to develop new technologies to improve efficiency. Not only are vehicles getting bigger, people are also wanting bigger vehicles. Let me explain, look at the size of the modern Fiesta compared to its early eighties relative, essentially the Fiesta has moved up a whole class. The person that buys a Fiesta today would not consider the Fiesta of old as it would not have enough space for the modern consumer. Size brings weight, and weight means more fuel required to propel the vehicle down the road. This would be the case if it wasn’t for clever Engineers working for car companies.
A perfect example is this BMW X5 which runs BMW’s “Vision EfficientDynamics” system. Utilising both a highly efficient 2.0L turbo diesel four cylinder engine and a small Hybrid compact generator, this large BMW only produces a 172g/km of CO2 or 43.5mpg on the combined cycle. The vehicle does not want for performance either, when using both the diesel engine and the generator up to 610Nm of torque is available coupled with 224hp. This vehicle would probably not use much more fuel than the dinky early eighties Fiesta, but has double the interior space and performance. It’s a great achievement but as yet the BMW is only at concept stage. Please read the article in the “Related Content” to the right for further details.
SRT8
March 5, 2008 4:05 PM
