Is BMW Spending A Billion Euro To Build An Electric SUV In America?

SUVs and crossovers are big business, and with the coming tide of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, automakers are positioning themselves to be leaders in this new wave of technology. BMW already has a head start with the i3 EV and i8 hybrid supercar, and we’ve assumed a plug-in sedan called the i5 would be next. But what if its not?

German magazine WirtschaftsWoche reports that BMW is looking into a billion euro expansion of its Spartanburg, South Carolina manufacturing facility to build a new i-branded SUV. The company actually announced the expansion last year, but has not yet made a final decision on whether to go forward with the expansion, or what, exactly, the new vehicle will be.

If it does happen, production capacity could increase to 450,000 units annually, an addition of 100,000 units, making it BMW’s largest factory. Speculation had been that the BMW X7 would be produced at the planet, but plans may have shifted in favor of an all-electric SUV. Or maybe this will merely be an X7 with a plug? Or will BMW give it the carbon fiber treatment like the i3 and i8? It could also be the just-announced BMW X5 PHEV too.

A plug-in SUV makes a lot of sense, perhaps even more so than a plug-in sedan like the i5. Sedan sales are starting to slip, and competitors like Audi and Tesla are preparing to launch plug-in utility vehicles of their own. Without much more to go on, we can only take a wait-and-see approach.

BMW X5 Plug-In Hybrid To Make Shanghai Debut

While BMW may not have been the first automaker out of the gate with plug-in cars, the i3 and i8 have been warmly welcomed by Bimmer and EV enthusiasts alike. Alas, the next BMW i car won’t arrive until 2020 at the soonest, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more plug-in Bimmers on the way. Arriving at the Shanghai Auto Show is a BMW X5 PHEV that could deliver up to 78 MPGe and over 300 horsepower.

Officially called the BMW X5 xDrive40e Sport Activity Vehicle (really BMW…), that long name underlies a fairly potent combination of performance and efficiency. A four-cylinder turbocharged gas engine combines with an electric motor to offer a total system output of 313 hp/230 kW, sending power to all four wheels through an eight-speed Steptronic automatic transmission for a 0 to 62 MPH/100 KPH time of 6.8 seconds. A 9 kWh lithium-ion battery pack stores enough electricity for short jaunts of about 15 mi/25 km, and with a fully-charged battery pack BMW claims fuel economy of up to 78 MPG in urban driving.

That number plummets to between 30 and 37 MPG on longer journeys, with average fuel economy of about 36 MPG once the battery is totally depleted. Still not too shabby, and a huge improvement over BMW’s last Chinese reveal, the 530LE, and unlike the underpowered plug-in hybrid sedan, the X5 xDrive40e stands a chance of coming to America. It might be another five years before we get the BMW i5 rumored to be in the works, but the plug-in hybrid SUV (or SAV if you prefer Bimmer’s nomenclature) market is still wide open.

If they brought it to America, would the BMW X5 PHEV tempt you into taking a test drive?