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Originally Posted by bayarea328xit
Considering the added weight, (given where we are right now in terms of hp/tq output) I think hybridization of the V8 seems quite pointless other than for bragging rights.
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There's a bit of that, sure. However, I don't think Mercedes would have spent all that money with nothing to show for it. Expect the GT73e to trounce the GT63 model. But yes, it'll be interesting to see how much weight it gains.
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It would be helpful to see the distribution of sales by # of cylinders for the 5, 7, 8, X5, X6, X7 (including Ms) for the past year.
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Those numbers aren't public. However, we do have
global BMW sales numbers and global BMW M sales numbers:
BMW = 2,028,659
BMW M = 144,218
So BMWs performance and high performance sales make up a little over 7% of their total. Since all BMW V8 models are now M models except the 750i, this number includes nearly all of the V8s. If we assume M models make up roughly the same percentage across each vehicle in the lineup, we can set an upper bound on the V8 at roughly 7% of BMW's engine mix in the 5/6/7/8 families. Yes, that assumption is a bit of a reach, and this is a very coarse grained analysis, so take it for what it's worth. But we know it's not completely in left field. My gut says that the actual V8 number is lower - perhaps around 5% - but that's just a SWAG.