2010 BMW 7 Series Hybrid Resembles 2009 Standard 7 Except Deep Down Inside

2010 BMW 7 Series Hybrid Resembles 2009 Standard 7 Except Deep Down Inside

The uber-spy-pix-photographers at KGP Photography are famous within the automotive world for snapping shots of pre-production vehicles undergoing extreme-conditions testing in Death Valley, the vast desert straddling the California-Nevada border that's home to the highest-recorded temperatures in the Western Hemisphere.

But on a recent night, the master snappers came across a 2010 BMW 7-series "Hybrid Erprobungsfahrzeug," or Hybrid Trial Vehicle, in a parking lot near the scorching proving grounds and did what they do best (and we're not referring to how many hotdogs they can consume in 5 minutes). Their candid images appear here.

In these pics, the gold car is the 2010 hybrid and the silver the 2009 conventionally powered model. As you can see, the changes appear to be limited to the wheels and to cosmetic or aerodynamic alterations to the front bumper. Otherwise, the exteriors of the vehicles are nearly identical except for the paint.

Hidden from the auto-spies' eyes is a 20-horsepower electric motor that works with a conventional twin-turbocharged V-8 to - as BMW board member Dr. Klaus Draeger told us last January - "significantly reduce both fuel consumption and emissions." (That is the objective of all mass-produced passenger hybrid vehicles, no?)

There's also a lithium-ion battery pack and a regenerative braking system in what is sure to be a package with a stratospheric price in line with Lexus' $106,000 LS600 h hybrid. As it is, the 2009 non-hybrid BMW 7-series starts at $80,300.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.