BMW forges ahead with petrol and diesel engine development

BMW has confirmed it is working on a new generation of internal-combustion engines (ICE), despite the industry trend to abandon petrol- and diesel-burning powertrains.

Speaking to German publication Auto Motor und Sport, BMW Development Director Frank Weber said the luxury carmaker was continuing to develop six-cylinder and V8 engines – but curiously didn’t mention four-cylinder engines.

“One thing is certain for us: we still need the state-of-the-art combustion engine for a few years to effectively reduce CO2 emissions in the passenger car sector globally,” Weber told the news outlet.

“That's why we're working on a new generation of engines: petrol, diesel, six-cylinder, eight-cylinder.”

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BMW may be the last German manufacturer to offer a V8, with Volkswagen Group-owned Audi and Mercedes-Benz both focusing on transitioning to fully-electric cars.

Rumours Europe suggest the next-generation Mercedes-AMG E63 may move to a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain, while the Audi RS6 is said to be dropping the internal-combustion engine entirely and moving to battery power.

While yet to be confirmed, evidence points to the next BMW M5 using a plug-in hybrid V8, shared with the recently-unveiled XM.

Despite the reports, Mercedes-AMG doesn’t appear to be abandoning the V8 just yet.

"I think for the next 10 years we will see the V8, for sure,” AMG boss Philipp Schiemer said in an interview with Road & Track recently.

“We have a lot of customers who love their cars and I still think that we will see those people buying the [V8] for a long time.”

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Punch Group – a BMW supplier known for buying up struggling automotive manufacturing businesses – recently told Automotive News Europe it was looking to redevelop diesel-powered engines into hydrogen-combustion ones.

The company is currently developing General Motors’ 6.6-litre Duramax turbo-diesel V8 to accept hydrogen, but CEO Guido Dumarey suggested other engine plants may be added in the future.

“I cannot say anything specific, but you can easily imagine there will soon be plenty of ‘widow’ diesel engine plants around Europe,” Dumarey told ANE, referring to factories which are for sale at significant discounts.

Japanese manufacturers have also been vocal about continuing to offer zero-emissions ICE vehicles powered by hydrogen, rather than abandoning more than 135 years of engine development.

Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru, along with Yamaha and Kawasaki, recently committed to keeping ICE cars alive, using hydrogen, biodiesel, and biomass-derived synthetic fuels.

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While BMW’s development boss Frank Weber stopped short of mentioning hydrogen as a future combustion fuel, the company was the first to offer a hydrogen-powered production car.

Between 2005 and 2007, the brand offered the BMW Hydrogen 7 – an E65 760Li which used a modified 6.0-litre V12 engine capable of accepting both petrol and hydrogen.