Our man with a plan, Fred Khaz, has struck again! And, how timely!
Always armed with a camera in SoCal, Khaz spotted the all-new BMW in the Costa Mesa area as it was doing developmental testing. The car has the important bits camouflaged — front/rear clips and the driver-side door for the electric charging port.
Just announced as of this morning at 7:00 a.m. ET, BMW confirmed that it will be shipping a 2016 model year 3-Series that is a plug-in hybrid. Dubbed the 330e, it is expected to produce a total system output of approximately 250 horsepower and 310 lb.-ft. of torque. This means zero to 60 will happen in about six seconds and it will boast a top speed of 140 mph. Although an mpg figure has not been released as of yet, the Bavarians are telling us that this 3-Series will be able to travel just over 20 miles on a full charge in its fully electric mode.
Sounds good to us!
As of now, there's no information on when to expect it to arrive in showrooms or what it will cost.
An excerpt from BMW's press release follows:
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The new BMW 330e Plug-in Hybrid.
Looking further ahead, the BMW 3 Series will celebrate a very special milestone in 2016 with the launch of the BMW 330e. The BMW 330e will be powered by a plug-in hybrid drive system with a combined output of around 250 hp and 310 lb-ft (preliminary), giving the BMW 330e a 0–60 mph acceleration time of approximately 6.1 (preliminary) and a top speed of 140 mph (preliminary). The new BMW 330e is also capable of travelling up to 22 miles in all-electric mode and therefore with zero local emissions...