BMW Pulls 3, 4, 6 Rabbits Out Of One Cylinder

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

The real big deal at BMW’s Innovation Days in Munich is the launch of a new family of engines. Actually what BMW launched was a single cylinder. That single, standardized cylinder becomes the basic building block of a series of in-line engines. They will have six, four, and (gasp) 3 cylinders. They will burn gasoline and oil. They will change the company. And possibly the way the ICE will be built. Gallery (for true pistonheads only) after the jump.

As independent car companies go, BMW is not the largest. They have sold an impressive 1.4 million units, but according to industry pundits, you need to sell at least 5 million for survival. Looking at the health and profits of BMW and other makers in its class, this is obviously not true. If you can’t compete on volume, you must compete on smarts.

Developing a kit from which many engines can be derived is a smart move. The new BMW power plants use a standardized set of design principles and a high number of common components for both petrol and diesel engines. The backbone of the BMW modular engine system are the standard cylinder, the in-line engine principle, and the TwinPower Turbo.

Using basically the same technology in smaller or bigger packs, BMW can power a broad range of vehicles spanning several segments and achieve scale effects which are inaccessible to manufacturers who have a dizzying array of engines that use multitudes of different technologies.

At the Innovation Days, BMW Group showed a new 2.0 liter four cylinder Gasoline engine and a new version of their new version of the 3.0 liter six cylinder in-line diesel unit.

The new engine propels the new BMW X1 xDrive28i in 6.1 seconds from zero to 100 km/h. It uses only 7.9 liters per 100 kilometers (29.8 mpg, non-EPA), 16 percent better than the previous model. The new diesel gives the BMW 530d xDrive similar acceleration while using only 5.7 liters per 100 kilometers (41.3 mpg, non-EPA).

Both engines will hit the European market shortly. Availability in the U.S. is still being researched.

The arrival of the 3 cylinder engine is not imminent. Suggestions that the 3 cylinder will be mostly used as a provider of a generator in a hybrid are not being denied out of hand at BMW. This gets a “sure, for that also” remark. However when you hear BMW folk sing the praise of the 3-pot having “a Laufkultur approaching a six cylinder,” when you hear them refer to the enginelet as a “halber 6-Zylinder” or “6-cylinder lite”, then you get the distinct feeling that this engine will not just be making electricity.

Now I know what some of you are thinking: “What’s all this 3, 4, 6 talk? I didn’t hear one mention of the 8 cylinder. It’s the Innovation Days, where they give a look into BMW’s future. Does the 8 cylinder have not future at BMW?”

It put this question to Ralph Huber, Chief spokesperson for Technology at BMW in Munich. He said “The 8 cylinder has a bright future at BMW. This was all about inline engines. The V8 is no inline engine. Our V8 is in a class of its own and has a life of its own.”

With these reassuring words, we conclude TTAC’s BMW day.



Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 42 comments
  • Blowfish Blowfish on Apr 05, 2011

    because they’re aiming for a 14:1 compression ratio for both the gasoline and the diesel heard newer dsl have lower CR, 16 to 1 or so.

  • Blowfish Blowfish on Apr 05, 2011

    The biggest trouble with modern BMWs is their lousy cooling systems. i heard they heads needs new coolant every yr or else u buy anew head real soon.

    • Krhodes1 Krhodes1 on Apr 05, 2011

      That is generally no longer the case - the e46s had lots of crappy plastic parts in their cooling system, but the e9xs seem to be holding up much better. BMW is capable of learning a lesson.

  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
  • EBFlex The best gift would have been a huge bonfire of all the fak mustangs in inventory and shutting down the factory that makes them.Heck, nobody would even have to risk life and limb starting the fire, just park em close together and wait for the super environmentally friendly EV fire to commence.
Next