BMW ActiveHybrid X6 - blink and you'll have missed it

BMW ActiveHybrid X6 ends production

BMW revealed the Active Hybrid X6 at Frankfurt in 2009 with plans to have it in showrooms by 2010. But now it’s been dropped after selling – not a lot.

On the face of it, adding hybrid gubbins to an expensive SUV should be a winner. Extra power and better economy – with the extra cost easily lost in an already expensive SUV – makes some sense. Or at least BMW thought so when the BMW AciveHybrid X6 was launched in 2009.

The ActiveHybrid X6 was the most powerful hybrid car when it launched, featuring as it did 480bhp and 575lb/ft of torque. All that power was courtesy of a 4.4 litre turbo V8 and a pair of electric motors. It all got shoved through a 7-speed dual-mode box and BMW’s x-drive system to deliver decent performance – 0-60mph in 5.4 seconds and a limited top speed of 130mph.

BMW reckoned the hybrid X6 was good for a 20 per cent reduction in fuel consumption and emissions were a relatively low 231g/km. The X6 hybrid could even pull-off the all-electric drive for up to 1.6 miles, assuming the batteries had charge.

The trouble was that the X6 ActiveHybrod weighed slightly moire than a smkall moon and cost more than the X6M. So we assume sales were modest. Very modest. Which probably explains why BMW has canned the X6 ActiveHybrid.

Perhaps BMW were a bit too keen to jump on the eco bandwagon by attempting to turn one of their more profligate creations in to an SUV with a green halo.

Thankfully, it seems to have failed.