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>> This swoopy, bird-cage, glass-enclosed-looking thing is BMW's hot concept at the Frankfurt show for 2009. It's a diesel, a hybrid, an electric, and has three cylinders. Yeah, all of that. It's the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept, and you could argue it was the belle of the ball at the Frankfurt show in 2009. It has the kind of styling you never see out of the auto show circuit, but the mode of power is the point here. It has the performance of an M car with the efficiency of a Prius. A 1.5 liter turbo-diesel -- three cylinders, mind you -- and two electric motors, one on the rear axle and one between the engine and the automated dual-clutch manual transmission. A lithium ion battery pack feeds the electric motors. It's all good for 356 horsepower and a staggering 590 foot pounds of torque. Zero to sixty, under five seconds; MPG north of 60. And BMW says if you were to drive this thing 40 miles a day or less, you'd stay on battery all the time and burn no gas. That's their "vision," anyway.
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