BMW 730d to win $5000 tax break

JUST a week after launching its first flagship 7 Series diesel in Australia, BMW has announced a fuel-efficiency tweak that will bring the BMW 730d under the crucial 7.0 litres per 100km mark and qualify it for a $5000 luxury car tax cut when the revised model arrives late this year.

However, BMW Australia says it will cover the $5000 difference on current stocks of the newly-released 730d until the revised model arrives.

The 730d was launched last week with an impressive fuel consumption figure of 7.2 litres per 100km, but an announcement by BMW in Germany this week reveals that figure is set to drop to just 6.8L/100km.

The improved economy of the revised car will bring the 730d below the fuel-consumption level needed for more favourable tax treatment under the revised luxury car tax scheme, slicing to price by about $5000.

BMW Australia spokesman Toni Andreevski told GoAuto that his company had been aware of the impending improvement in fuel economy of the 730d and had decided to cover the $5000 difference on current cars itself until the leaner model arrives.

That way there would be no difference in the price when the tweaked model is introduced.

BMW has also announced a new oxides of nitrogen (NOx) storage catalyst will be made available for the 730d in Europe reducing NOx emissions to 2014 Euro VI standard.

The 730d is already has a diesel particulate filter and oxidisation catalyst.

BMW Australia confirmed it would not take the NOx storage catalyst as it said local customers would not want to pay extra money for it.

At the same time it announced fuel economy improvements for the 730d, BMW also revealed it would introduce an autobahn-storming 7 Series diesel with 225kW of power in Europe.

The new 740d will be powered by a twin turbocharged six-cylinder with 600Nm of torque available from 1500rpm to 2500rpm.

This output will allow the 1850kg-plus vehicle to sling from 0-100km/h in just 6.3 seconds. Like most other BMW models it is electronically limited to 250km/h.

Perhaps the most surprising figure is the EU cycle fuel economy average which stands at just 6.9 litres per 100km.

It emits 181g/km and is lean enough to meet future Euro VI emission standards.

The 740d uses similar common-rail and piezo injection to the just-introduced 730d, but that engine only has one variable geometry turbocharger as opposed to the two used for the 740d.

BMW Australia said it will not bring the 740d here as one diesel 7 Series would be sufficient and it thought there would be more demand for the less potent and more affordable sub-$200,000 730d.

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