The BMW Active Tourer Concept will makes its debut at the 2012 Paris Motor Show.
With the debut of the new BMW Active Tourer Concept at this month’s Paris Motor Show we’ll come a giant step closer to learning what to expect when the Bavarian maker launches its all-new battery-car brand next year.
Though still a concept, the Active Tourer is a much closer take on the little i3 city car that will be the first offering from the new BMW i brand-within-a-brand. It will be followed soon after by the more sporty i8 – with several other electrified vehicles reportedly in the works.
Roughly the length of the latest BMW 1-Series, at 171 inches, nose-to-tail, and with a 105-inch wheelbase, the Active Tourer Concept also borrows some of the design features of the latest 3-Series sedan – notably the nose, with its slightly tilted double-kidney grille framed by twin headlamps topped by LED running lights. But the overall shape is more crossover-like, standing a full five inches taller than the 1-Series and four inches wider.
The Active Tourer Concept makes use of BMW's latest eDrive plug-in hybrid system.
While the i3 is expected to be powered by a pure battery-electric drivetrain, the Active Tourer Concept opts for the maker’s latest eDrive plug-in hybrid technology, much like the i8 concept. That pairs a 1.5-liter turbocharged inline-three-cylinder gas engine with a synchronous electric motor. Energy is stored in a small lithium-ion battery pack that is said to yield about 20 miles per charge. While the maker doesn’t give details on the batteries that would suggest they’re in the range of 8 to 10 kilowatt-hours, according to those familiar with current lithium technology.
By pairing the two drivetrain components BMW claims the Active Tourer Concept produces 190 horsepower and 147 lb-ft of torque – enough to launch it to 100 kmh (62 mph) in less than eight seconds. Top speed is rated at 124 mph. It’s not revealed what the top speed in electric mode might be.
This image provides a hint of what's inside the new BMW Active Tourer Concept.
The maker estimates fuel consumption of 2.5 liters per kilometer using the European measurement system. For Americans, that works out to about 94 miles per gallon – though Continental regulators have been far more generous in their ratings of other battery vehicles like the Fisker Karma than the U.S. EPA has proven.
The automaker is only giving a hint of what’s inside the Active Tourer Concept with a shot showing the doors open. But BMW’s release suggests there are some intriguing innovations incorporated in the prototype. While the show car does away with most of the transparent panels found on the original i3 concept it adopts the new “Cool Shade” roof technology. First seen on the big Maybach and more recently on the Mercedes-Benz SL, it allows the electrochromic glass roof to be switched from opaque to transparent with the touch of a button.
The original BMW i3 concept.
The BMW Active Tourer Concept also adopts some cutting-edge display technologies, including an 8-inch reconfigurable gauge cluster and a huge 10.25-inch center stack touchscreen for the vehicle’s infotainment system.
If that’s not enough, there’s also a full-color Head-Up Display, or HUD, which offers up critical vehicles information, such as speed, navigation turn-by-turn indicators and warnings, on a retractable glass screen.
On a more conventional note, BMW says the interior is lavished in “shimmering” leather accented by contrasting orange stitching, with a center stack designed to look like it is floating between driver and front passenger.