X5 PHEV out to steal diesel's crown

BMW: PROMISED EFFICIENCY, DRIVETRAIN UNLIKELY TO SILENCE STIGMA OF ELECTRIC CARS

- Charl Bosch

The BMW X5 needs little introduction when it comes to large SUVs for always having been seen as the most complete in its class. A statement that could still be seen as bullish given the presence of the Mercedes-Benz GLE, Porsche Cayenne and to some extent, left-field options such as the Volkswagen Touareg and Jeep Grand Cherokee, the X5's rise from one of the most hated BMW models to one of the most important is a familiar one.

Levering off of BMW's ownership of Land Rover at the time, the X5, upon the debut of the original E53 in 1999, wasn't seen as an alternative to the Range Rover, but rather as the predecessor of the GLE, the M-Class, which premiered two years before. The criticism that subsequently followed seemed justified. The three-pointed star had a reputation for off-roaders with G-Class, whereas BMW had nothing. The thought of the X5 being a failure seemed, therefore, certain. However, as history showed, it became a runaway success.

Locally, the X5 has been dominated by a single derivative, viewed as all the SUV buyers in the segment will ever need. The xDrive 30d has become the default X5 despite the past availability of petrol engines, the more powerful xDrive 40d, tri and later quad-turbodiesel versions of the M50d, and the flagship X5 M. BMW claims that an alternative still prevails in the form of the xDrive 50e that replaces the pre-facelift xDrive 40e as the new flagship non-M Performance X5 variant.