BMW talks up diesels

… when BMW starts talking about oil-burners in the same breath as its performance petrol engines.

Currently five BMW models are available with turbo-diesel powerplants and more are coming, according to BMW Australia spokesman, Toni Andreevski.

The 730d has just landed and the 330d, sharing the same 3.0-litre turbo-diesel as the 730d, arrives next month.

Andreevski says the German carmaker may also add a 118d, along with diesel 3 Series coupe and convertibles, which are on the agenda for next year.

The 118d model will sit under the 120d with a pricing around $45,000.

It shares the same 2.0-litre turbo-diesel as the 120d but in a detuned form, developing 105kW/300Nm compared to the 120d's 125kW/350Nm.

Andreevski says the key to the 118d is its combined hybrid-busting fuel economy figure of 4.5 litres/100km and CO2 emissions of 119g/km.

It will feature fuel saving ideas like stop-start and brake energy regeneration.

"We're still considering it but it is a compelling argument based on its fuel economy and emissions," Andreevski says.

BMW will get a better idea of where the 1 Series diesel strategy is going once the six-speed manual version of the 120d beds in, he says.

"We want to get a better feel for what's happening with 120d manual and whether a BMW, with fuel economy at 4.5 litres, would be appealing to people without sacrificing acceleration and performance," Andreevski says.

However, Andreevski has ruled out diesels appearing in the head-lining Z4 sportscar to go up against the Audi TT diesel.

"BMW equips models with diesels only if it detects sufficient customer demand for the efficiency offered by these powerplants and if it is confident the engines exceed the performance expectations of buyers," he says.

For a brand that did not sell diesel-powered vehicles here before March 2003, BMW has become a big advocate of oil-burners.

Diesel BMW now account for about 34 per cent of all its local sales.

Twenty per cent of 1 Series and 3 Series sales are diesel and 35 per cent of 5 Series are diesels with the bulk of X5 sales being diesels.

"Individually the most popular engine in the 5 Series is the diesel, the 520d," Andreevski says.

Luxury diesel sales are up 18 per cent overall this year, with BMW leading fellow Germans Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

"Our diesel strategy was to target four-wheel drives first and move down," Andreevski says.

He expects the popularity of diesels in BMW's luxury sedans and hatchs to continue to increase, even though diesels still represent a relatively small number of overall vehicle sales in Australia.

"People are now migrating to sedan-based diesels in bigger numbers," he says.