BMW has had their fair share of negative press of late after they laid off 850 agency workers at their MINI plant in Oxford with union leaders and politicians weighing in with their two pennies worth, but what has gone relatively unnoticed is the fact that BMW are one of the leaders in eco friendly engineering.
While Toyota and Honda have continued to develop their hybrid vehicles and gained well deserved acclaim, it's almost as if BMW have slipped under the radar with their latest developments. Even though the BMW 118d was voted World Green Car of the Year for 2008 (and kept BMW dealers busy), BMW still remain a tarnished brand in the eyes of critics and road users (mainly because BMW attracts arrogant drivers with a 'King of the Road' mentality - perhaps this will change now BMW are making great strides to become greener with every new model they develop?).
Autocar gave the 118d a very favourable review deeming it: 'As green as a Prius and a lot more fun' - a glowing reference given the impact that the Prius has made since its birth in 2000. With road tax now banded depending upon CO2 emissions drivers are now much more aware about the pollution caused by their vehicles as it is hitting them where it hurts - in the pocket. The 118d costs just 35 pounds per year to tax, a factor in this particular model being one of the most popular with BMW dealers.
BMW's EfficientDynamics programme is at the forefront of eco friendly motoring with many engineering features combining to produce such a green vehicle: Auto Start-Stop is one groundbreaking feature - it automatically switches off the vehicle's engine whenever it is stationary and in neutral thus saving on fuel and lowering CO2 emissions. Electric Power Steering, Low-friction Fluids and reduced rolling resistance tyres are other EfficientDynamics features that contribute towards lower fuel consumption and emitting less CO2 emissions.
BMW dealers will be even busier in the coming month with the release of the 116d which is even more eco friendly than the 118d. The 116d emits even less CO2 than the current Green Car of the Year, the 118d, at just 118g/km and has extremely economical combined consumption figures of 64.2 miles per gallon.
Honda and Toyota, the first two car manufacturers to succeed in hybrid development are continuing to evolve their hybrid models - Honda's Insight will be the most affordable hybrid car on the UK market (and a very good one at that). Toyota's Prius continues to increase in popularity also as the Japanese giants' look to continue their innovation in hybrid technology.
BMW should be given more credit for their part in turning the motor market greener and although people may point the finger at other brands entering the world of eco friendly car design as a route back into the market given the poor sales figures thanks (or no thanks) to the global credit crunch, they would be wrong to do so as this sort of innovative engineering takes years to hone.
Even though many, including union leaders and those that have unfortunately lost their jobs, many feel that BMW are unethical in terms of human resources, they cannot be accused of the same in terms of striving to become more eco friendly at a time where reducing CO2 emissions has never been so important given the state of the planet.
Author Resource:-
Shaun Parker is an engineer with many years of experience in the car industry. Find out more about BMW dealers at http://www.cooperbmw.co.uk
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://echievements.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
