The BMW X6 ActiveHybrid is to be withdrawn from sale in the US after less than two years, according to specialist BMW website Bimmerfile.com.
Targeted at the American market when it was launched in late 2009, the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid was priced from $88,900 (about £58,000) and that could have been a key factor in the vehicle’s lack of sales success. Many potential customers instead plumped for the X6M, which costs just $600 more on the other side of the Atlantic.
See a pic of the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid
The four-wheel-drive X6 ActiveHybrid is powered by a 400bhp TwinPower turbocharged V8 and two high-performance electric motors that draw extra power from a brake-regeneration system.
With combined 478bhp (when the electric motors were being used) and 575lb ft, BMW claimed the X6 ActiveHybrid was the most powerful hybrid in the world when it was launched. The car can accelerate from 0-60mph in 5.4sec.
The car hasn’t been offered in the UK because relatively economic diesel X6 variants rendered the hybrid technology unnecessary, but with diesel unpopular in the USA, it was hoped that the X6 ActiveHybrid would offer an attractive compromise between efficiency and performance.
The fuel economy is a claimed 28.5mpg, but Autocar couldn’t get close to that figure when we drove it in November 2009. Read our first drive review of the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid here.
The hybrid architecture adds roughly 250kg to the kerb weight, taking it to a considerable 2450kg. However, the gain is all but offset by the extra reserves brought on by the electric drive, resulting in a power-to-weight ratio of 198bhp per tonne.
The electric motor and its ancillaries used in the X6 ActiveHybrid were co-developed with Daimler and thereford similar to those fitted to the Mercedes S400 hybrid.
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