BMW 740e hybrid 2016 | new car sales price

BMW has announced the price of a plug-in hybrid version of its flagship 7 Series limousine due to touch down in Australia towards the end of this year.

The 740e will arrive wearing a $229,000 price tag, a $4800 premium over the petrol powered 740i (regular wheelbase) that it’s based on. This places the 740e in the middle of the Australian 7 Series line-up which kicks off at $217,500 and currently tops out at $312,700 foir the 750Li.

When it arrives the 740e will be the third BMW iPerformance model to come to Australia with the 330e sedan and X5 xDrive40e SUV launching earlier this year.

The 740e is powered by a 190kW/400Nm 2.0-litre four cylinder turbo petrol engine and a 83kW/250Nm electric motor with a combined output of 240kW. Performance will be impressive with its claimed 0-100km/h sprint time of 5.4 seconds, 0.3 seconds quicker than the 740i.

An eight-speed automatic transmission shifts the gears with the average fuel consumption coming in at just 2.2L/100km.

BMW says the 740e can travel 48km purely on electricity.

As with the other iPerformance models the 740e has three hybrid modes: Max eDrive for electric-only driving; Auto eDrive which combines the engine and motor; and Battery Control which uses the engine only and charges the battery through braking.

BMW says the 740e can travel 48km purely on electricity.

The 740e shares the same standard features as the 740i. This includes 19-inch alloy wheels, 16-speaker Harman/Kardon sound system, leather upholstery, sat van, reversing camera, auto parking, proximity unlocking, adaptive air suspension, M Sport package, heated and ventilated seats, and head-up display.

As with the 740i, the 740e also comes standard with the Driving Assistant Plus package which brings some great advanced safety equipment such as AEB, active cruise control, lane-keeping function and rear cross traffic alert.

The 740e will take on Mercedes-Benz’s S500e petrol electric plug-in hybrid which arrived in July, which sits above the C350e sedan and GLE 500e SUV plug-in hybrids.

Is this the ultimate green limo, or does the big, eco-Benz beat it? Tell us what you think in the comments below.