BMW Australia: All upcoming ICE models will be mild-hybrid

BMW Australia is looking to further electrify its lineup and better align its drivetrains with the European market, confirming “just about everything moving forward” with petrol- or diesel-only engines will be 48V mild-hybrid.

“Some new models we launched last year – X7 LCI – that was a change to 48V mild-hybrid; X5 LCI, X6 LCI turned 48V mild-hybrid, and the 520i has also has come online,” said Brendan Michel, head of product and market planning for BMW Australia.

“I think just about everything moving forward, if we’re still going to keep petrols they will move to 48V [MHEV].”

Further to that, Mr Michel said that the Euro-6d standard – which will be enforced by the Australian Government on all new vehicles from December 2025 – will also better align the local range with the European market.

“The other thing to point out is the EU-6d standard, which [means] a lot of change for us as well,” Mr Michel continued.

“That’s fuel quality, and eventually we’ll get petrol particulate filters in our petrols as well.”

Mr Michel confirmed with CarExpert that none of BMW Australia’s current range features a petrol particulate filter (PPF).

“That’s why our exhausts all still sound quite good,” Mr Michel remarked.

While Australia now gets 48V mild-hybrid versions of BMW’s larger models, the brand’s compact and mid-size offerings are sold here without electrification despite the newer drivetrains being offered overseas.

For example, the 3 Series and 4 Series ranges are all 48V mild-hybrid in Europe and the UK for models that aren’t plug-in hybrid, as are the new X1 and X2 which have just gone on sale in Australia.

Looking forward to the rest of the year, BMW only has the facelifted 4 Series and potentially the all-new X3 due to land during the course of 2024.

Based on Mr Michel’s comments, we expect the X3 to offer 48V mild-hybrid petrol engines, maybe diesel too, though the 4 Series range has already been confirmed to have carryover powertrains sans MHEV tech when it arrives in the second quarter.

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