BMW board member for corporate and brand development Friedrich Eichiner stated in an interview with Automotive News that the automaker is predicting that roughly half of all X6 model production will be sold in the U.S.
The allotted world annual production run of 40,000 units will be built solely at BMW's Spartanburg plant. The vehicle will also be heavily pushed in the UK and Germany, where BMW hopes some 10 percent of total X6 sales will come from.
The X6 is based on BMW's X5 SUV and will be offered in a variety of engine configurations. European customers initially will be able to select one of two gasoline or two diesel variants, with American consumers recieving only the gasoline options.
A possible American market diesel engine is currently under consideration by BMW, according to X6 project manager Peter Tuennermann.
With automakers facing record fuel prices in the U.S., low emissions vehicles are quickly becoming the norm. BMW is planning to debut a hybrid X6 in mid-2009 that will be powered by a 407 horsepower 4.4 liter gasoline V-8 combined with an electric motor. Both European and American markets are slated to receive the model.
The hybrid powertrain for the X6 is a version of the dual mode system that was co-developed with GM and the former DaimlerChrysler and is said to reduce emissions by 20 percent versus its gasoline counterpart
Eichiner stated that with the upcoming X6 hybrid, the German automaker is striving to give American consumers a vehicle that offers both fuel efficiency and superb overall performance, albiet in a pretty strange.
The X6 will go on sale in Europe and the U.S. beginning at the end of May with a base price of around $52,500.
Source: Automotive News