BMW 7 Series 2016 News

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.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. 

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...boasting fuel consumption more in line with small four-cylinder cars than its traditional luxo-rivals."This is a car that really redefines how efficient a large luxury car can be," BMW Australia's Toni Andreevski says.The new 730d has an official fuel consumption rating of 7.2L/100km, just 0.2 of a litre above the limit set by the government for cars to benefit from the green car exemption from luxury tax."It is just outside that level at the moment but with almost daily improvements in our efficient dynamics technology I am hopeful that it won't be too long before that level is reached," Andreevski says.In the interim BMW will just have to be satisfied that the 730d is the first car in the upper luxury sedan segment that emits less than 200 grams of CO2 per kilometre, putting out 192 g/km.That measure puts it ahead of the Lexus LS600hL hybrid and diesel competitors in the segment and on a par with a clutch of other four-cylinder cars on the Australian market, such as the manual 1.8-litre Holden Astra CD, the manual 1.6-litre Skoda Roomster and the automatic 1.8-litre Honda Civic VTi."It's not often a luxurious five-seater saloon is compared with smaller four-cylinder cars, but in terms of fuel consumption the 730d demonstrates the remarkable achievement of BMW’s EfficientDynamics programme," says BMW Australia's general manager of marketing, Tom Noble.The 730d's Euro 5 compliant turbocharged all-alloy straight six-cylinder engine produces 180kW and 540Nm, giving the car a 0-100km/h sprint of 7.2 seconds.The 3.0-litre diesel features a third generation common rail direct injection system with piezo injectors and a maximum injection pressure of 1800 bar, variable turbo geometry, diesel particle filter and oxidation catalyst.Standard equipment levels on the 730d are the same as the recently released 740i, including heads-up display, rear view camera, metallic paint, 18-inch light-alloy wheels, Dynamic Driving Control, Brake Energy Regeneration, adaptive headlights, heated and ventilated front seats, sunroof, soft close on all doors, television tuner and voice recognition.