G20 BMW 330e plug-in hybrid now on sale in Europe


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The G20 BMW 330e plug-in hybrid first made its debut in November last year, and has finally gone on sale in Europe. If you’ve been following the news, there’s not much about the new 330e that you don’t already know, except BMW revealed that the car will get a trailer coupling system with electrically pivoting pitch ball, with a maximum trailer load of 750 kg.

Other than that, it’s the same car altogether, so let’s give it a quick refresher. The 330e is primarily powered by the ubiquitous B48 2.0 litre four-cylinder engine, and on its own makes 184 hp and 300 Nm of torque (same as the 320i). However, it gets augmented with an electric motor that produces 80 kW (109 hp), allowing for a combined system output of 252 hp and 420 Nm of torque.

That’s the same as the outgoing F30 330e model, but for the first time there’s now an XtraBoost feature that delivers an extra 30 kW (41 hp; available in Sport mode) of accelerative boost for 10 seconds. This brings the total amount of available power up to 292 hp, and this feature is standard for all variants of the G20 330e.

Performance-wise, it does the century sprint in 5.9 seconds, before topping out at 230 km/h. Average fuel consumption is rated at 1.7 litres per 100 km. The car comes with a larger 12 kWh lithium-ion battery that provides an all-electric driving range of up to 66 km (cruises up to 140 km/h), although the fitment of the battery compromises boot space slightly – the 330e gets 375 litres instead of the standard 480 litres of space.

Other model-specific features include an “emotionally engaging drive system note,” as well as acoustic pedestrian protection. This system uses an exterior speaker to generate an unmistakable sound for electrified BMWs, although it’s unclear to us what the sound actually sounds like in real life.

Meanwhile, our source revealed that the G20 330e PHEV may not make it to Malaysian shores after all, citing uncertainties with the tax breaks existing PHEVs have been given based on the current National Automotive Policy (NAP). The G20 330e’s fate is not sealed, though, because discussions are ongoing, and if regulations are favourable, then the 330e might just find its way here. The revised NAP is expected to be announced by the government later this year.

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