Weighing Competitors in Luxury SUV Category

With popularity of diesel engines in European market, it was all but predictable that German automaker, BMW, will launch its very first SUV with a dynamic diesel engine. And indeed X5 diesel engine proved to be as versatile as expected. From the very first model, BMW established that their diesel engines will provide similar sporty feel, grunt and performance as their petrol engines.

In both generation of first ever SAV, BMW introduced many innovative features, some were blatantly copied from Land Rover as BMW owned Rover at that time. However second generation X5 was testament of BMW?s own ingenuity. In its second generation, X5 was launched with two choices of diesel engines.

• 3.0 litre straight 6 comes with xDrive30D and touted 265bhp which pushed it to 60 miles under 8 seconds. It delivers this astounding performance while maintaining fuel economy, does 100km in 7.4 liters.
• 4.0 litre engine in xDrive40D is even more impressive. It produces 306 bhp and attains 60 miles in 6.6 seconds. Not only that, like its smaller version, it also delivers superior, top of the line fuel economy with consumption figures of 7.8litres/100km.

Though petrol engines used in X5, produce as much as 550 bhp and boast 0 to 60 within 6 seconds but they heavily compromise on fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions. These values increase running and insurance costs of the vehicle, not that they would be of much concern to you if you can afford one of these luxury SAVs.

Originally BMW entered luxury SUV market to challenge Merc M Class and Lexus RX but soon enough it found a new challenger for market dominance in shape of Porsche?s Cayenne, launched in 2002. Though Lexus is industry leader when it comes to built quality but its wide range of SUVs and crossovers (RX, GX and LX) couldn?t offer a unified challenge to Beamer. RX and GX offer somewhat direct competition to X5 as LX is a full size SUV.

Although a late entrant, Porsche exploited Europe?s shift, towards diesel power engines, to the fullest. In its first generation, Cayenne was offered in five varying diesel engines ranging from 290 to 550 bhp. All boasting similar or better performance, they truly gave BMW X5 diesel engines a run for the money. If Porsche were to enter SUV market in late 1990s then BMW wouldn?t be able to capitalize on luxury SUV niche. First mover?s advantage and better market sensing allowed Beamer to snatch victory even from a technologically superior competitor.

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