BMW justifies plan to build X7 SUV

BMW has recently announced their plants to build a large SUV: the BMW X7, despite the current focus on Efficient Dynamics and the BMW i sub-brand. It is scheduled to arrive in 2017 and will be built at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina.

The idea of building an X7 was first considered in 2008 but with the economic crisis, it didn’t seem apt to release a car that will consume much fuel. The car industry veered away from large vehicles in general for the past years.

“The X7 is a perfect reflection of the premium carmaker’s dilemma,” says Arndt Ellinghorst, head of automotive research at ISI Group. “On the one hand they need to launch more environment-friendly cars, on the other they have to make money to be able to afford to do so.”

BMW said its decision to build the X7 is “thoroughly in accordance with the subject of sustainability . . . With large vehicles and SUVs there is often the blanket assumption that these have a very high [fuel] consumption. Our SUVs are efficient.”

Norbert Reithofer, BMW CEO, said there is no contradiction between the company’s efficiency goals and its SUV line-up, including the X6 which weighs more than two tonnes and emits 236g carbon dioxide per km (petrol version).

“Customers worldwide have very different needs, and in the US, in particular, customers have always asked for a model above the X5. We are now responding to those wishes,” he told investors in May.

Source: FT.com