Isn't "Efficiency Dynamics" mostly a software thing? Because I'm FURIOUS....

[janisX5]

My dear americans, until you will have so cheap petrol and will buy cheap petrol cars nothing will change. Demand makes proposal. I don't think you are ready to pay $120k for fully equipt X5 3.0d for enviroment saving.
X5 3.0sd demo cars are in dealerships in Latvia, this is the right choice!!!

[JCL]

Originally Posted by Fredo

Efficient Dynamics is not just for diesels it's for both petrol and diesel cars. I would think the reason why BMW hasn't introduced in the US is that it is probably more expensive to manufacture.

But they have introduced it in the US, that was my point. It is a collection of technologies, not one item. Read about it on the BMWUSA website, or the BMW Canada web site. The US vehicles get Valvetronic, double-vanos, low-rolling resistance tires, etc. We don't get the diesel, but apparently will next year. I suspect that your vehicle is in fact a diesel. How much of your annual saving is related to the diesel (which was available before the ED marketing campaign)? Efficient Dynamics also applies to the hydrogen vehicle (gag) and future hybrids (double gag). The only items apart from the diesel that aren't in the US on the X5 are the Brake Energy Regeneration and the Active Radiator ducting, and they are worth only a few % in fuel consumption savings. Driving habits make more of a difference than that.

Originally Posted by Penguin

No, it's mostly a PR thing.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by janisX5

My dear americans, until you will have so cheap petrol and will buy cheap petrol cars nothing will change. Demand makes proposal. I don't think you are ready to pay $120k for fully equipt X5 3.0d for enviroment saving.

Perfectly stated.

Jeff

[xdrive]

Someone here has previously said that all week 40 built X5's will have the 08 upgrade. The pictures for the 08's in US so far seem to have Auto-H and active headrest which means that the 08 features have been included in the US 08's as well. It doesn't make sense if the Spartanburg factory is keeping several different manufacutring lines (with different specs) for those to be sale in the US, EU and Asia. Since BMW has been putting so much effort in promoting the Efficient Dynamics in their vehicles, it would be strange that they would simply offer it to only some countries and not others.

[Fredo]

Originally Posted by JCL

How much of your annual saving is related to the diesel (which was available before the ED marketing campaign)?

Just to clarify 100% all of those saving are directly related to the ED car...a non ED 3.0d or sd would be that much more expensive for me to run. Here in the UK road tax is banded according to emissions so the higher the Co2 output the more car tax you pay....and if you drive in Central London the congestion charge is also based on emissions. Some cars are exempt, most pay £8 per day and the high emissions cars will pay £25 from next year. The non ED diesel X5's fall into that category, the ED models don't.

The savings in fuel consumption are between 5 and 10% across the range which is a massive difference. It's like introducing next generation engines.

[Fredo]

There is a brief article about this in this week's copy of Autocar. It says that BMW strategists don't believe that petrol prices have had a big enough impact on the US market to justify introducing it. I suppose they are monitoring the percentage of E70 sales that are 4.8 versus 3.0 for example, I wonder if that is much different from the E53? I have no idea but I suspect not much. There certainly seem to be a lot of people on here with the 4.8 engine.

As an example of how things have changed in the UK. When the E53 was launched sales were pretty much evenly split between the 3.0d and the 4.4i, 3.0i sales were minimal. Over time that has changed so that now 90% of E70 sales are the 3.0d and I would imagine that % will get even higher with the sd now hitting the streets.

Until BMW see a big shift in consumer demand I don't think they will introduce ED. If you think about it from their point of view the cars cost more to manufacture and also it will be a very good marketing tool to have when the broader US consumer does eventually become concerned about fuel consumption and/or emissions. I am sure they have done a hell of a lot of research into this.

[marcx5]

Originally Posted by Fredo

There is a brief article about this in this week's copy of Autocar. It says that BMW strategists don't believe that petrol prices have had a big enough impact on the US market to justify introducing it. I suppose they are monitoring the percentage of E70 sales that are 4.8 versus 3.0 for example, I wonder if that is much different from the E53? I have no idea but I suspect not much. There certainly seem to be a lot of people on here with the 4.8 engine.

As an example of how things have changed in the UK. When the E53 was launched sales were pretty much evenly split between the 3.0d and the 4.4i, 3.0i sales were minimal. Over time that has changed so that now 90% of E70 sales are the 3.0d and I would imagine that % will get even higher with the sd now hitting the streets.

Until BMW see a big shift in consumer demand I don't think they will introduce ED. If you think about it from their point of view the cars cost more to manufacture and also it will be a very good marketing tool to have when the broader US consumer does eventually become concerned about fuel consumption and/or emissions. I am sure they have done a hell of a lot of research into this.

if what you say is accurate... then BMW should be extremely ashamed and i have very low opinions of whoever made that decision. AT MINIMUM, they could offer it as an option and CHARGE us for it... at least OFFERING it those of us who want this great vehicle with AS MUCH efficiency as possible. i, personally, would have paid thousands of dollars for a more efficient vehicle if i could keep the same performance standards.

SHAME ON YOU BMW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

[jwhkc]

[Fredo]

Shame on BMW but also shame on the average US consumer for not caring enough about fuel consumption to make it worthwhile !!!

The fact that the US Govt has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol and that it doesn't seem to be an issue with the electorate probably says an awful lot about how far the mindset needs to change.

[brian5]

Originally Posted by Fredo

Shame on BMW but also shame on the average US consumer for not caring enough about fuel consumption to make it worthwhile !!!

The fact that the US Govt has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol and that it doesn't seem to be an issue with the electorate probably says an awful lot about how far the mindset needs to change.

Why do you say the average US consumer doesn't care enough about fuel consumption??? Where the did you get that information from? And what say do you really think the electorate has in the signing the Kyoto Protocol!?!?!?

As you may be able to tell, I don't like it when populations make generalizations about others.

over...

[JCL]

I will try not to generalize, but the suspicion that the average North American consumer doesn't care about fuel consumption is supported by the sales statistics of ever larger vehicles. More Hummers, fewer Smart cars, which is, I agree, a generalization. It is a chain effect, since fuel is too cheap, so why should consumers care about fuel efficiency or the environment? That electorate, one suspects, does not support raising fuel prices to world levels as an incentive to conserve (and thus pollute less).

Using this forum as a barometer, I was interested to note that when the North American debut of the 1 series was being discussed, there were a vast number of posts on the 135 compared to very few posts on the 120d.

I'll stay away from commenting directly on the Kyoto protocol, since it is more of a political football, but if a country's elected government doesn't support the KP, I am interested to see what it offers as an alternative. Short of an alternative, I would conclude that there isn't the political will to affect change.

I would also suggest that within North America, there are individuals who care a lot about the environment. But taken as a whole, it is hard to identify a trend. Fredo's comments are from more of a global perspective, I suspect. I agree with him, for what it is worth.

It is also just a side note, but BMW has introduced ED in North America. It just hasn't introduced the diesels with ED. My new 5 series has plenty of ED features.