BMW cutting V8 engine production to focus on four-cylinders engines

01 Sep

Posted by Horatiu B. as Rumors

As expected and rumored for quite some time now, BMW is looking to cut their large displacement engines production and focus on smaller, more efficient ones. The first engine to see a decrease in the production numbers, is the famous V8 engine, used in BMW’s high-end models, like the 550i, 750Li or the new M3.

According to the BMW’s Union boss Manfred Schoch, based on the current demand for the V8 engine, a single shift operation working only four days week, could fulfill this demand. The V10 and V12 engines seem to be less popular as well and they might share the same “faith” in the near future.

In the same interview with Automotive News, Herr Schoch confirmed the high demand for the four-cylinder engines. Back in April, one of our articles received a lot of criticism, an article in which we talked about BMW’s plans to build four-cylinder twin turbo engines and even a quad-turbo four cylinders. We heard that the new engines will be exclusive for the 1 Series to start, but may go to a 3 coupe, but not the sedan. Release date of 2010 is what we heard they are shooting for. Parts and pieces (suppliers) were being scouted at that time, so that means that the engine is way deep into the development or even testing phase.

Well, once again, it has been confirmed, there will be indeed twin-turbo and quad-turbo four cylinder engines.

Smart move by BMW? Would you rather see a large V8 engine in your car?

[Source: MotorAuthority ]

14 Responses

Artmic

September 1st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
1

wow this is just totally interesting
4 cylinder quad turbo or dual turbo’s?
hmmm if the performance is there, and as long as we can have a 300hp 3 series or 1 series i guess, then all is good
Horatiu B.

September 1st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
2

@Artmic: a quad-turbo will be an amazing piece of technology. That is something that will excite the BMW fans.
George

September 2nd, 2008 at 2:44 am
3

I agree with the cease of production for V10 and V12 engines but not for V8! BMW should keep a V8 because NA engines where always a part of the tradition of the M cars. There is no way a 4 cylinder twin or quad turbo will sound better than a NA V8 or have the same response on high revs. As fas as performance and consumption is concerned the turbos are unbeatable…
my.IS - Lexus IS Forum - BMW cutting V8 engine production to focus on four-cylinders engines

September 2nd, 2008 at 6:46 am
4

[...] cylinder engines. Smart move by BMW? Would you rather see a large V8 engine in your car? BMW cutting V8 engine production to focus on four-cylinders engines Some more Info: [...]
Gragop

September 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 am
5

Quad turbos sounds like a reliability nightmare…
GreenPlease

September 2nd, 2008 at 10:56 am
6

Actually, quad turbo shouldn’t be a reliability nightmare. Each turbo runs a single cylinder so very standard (and durable) single scroll turbos can be used.
Joe

September 2nd, 2008 at 9:00 pm
7

Don’t like this other then to say how rare my car will be come .. I love my V10 M5 ..
Horatiu B.

September 2nd, 2008 at 9:53 pm
8

@Gragop: If there is something that I don’t doubt BMW, then it’s the reliability when it comes to their engines. They have lots of flaws as a carmaker, but engines are their strongest selling point.
Rotor

September 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
9

I thought BMW failed miserable in what could have been an exciting event for the performance enthusiast. The 1 series could have had a high performance 4 cylinder which would have been an M 1 series, then they could have had the M3 with the same trusty 6 cylinder for those who really do not want or could not handle the V8. In addition the M3 could have come with an RS version, which would be V8 powered. A version for almost every bank account, not including the M5 etc. Now they are playing catchup. Funny the first M3 sold very well, and it was a 4 Cylinder!!!! Looks like history might repeat itself!
Clara

September 3rd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
10

A quad-turbo I-4 is a strange idea. If each cylinder powered a seperate turbo, you’d have full boost only 1/4 of the time, and not the time that cylinder needed it. You could route that compression to the next cylinder on intake, assuming that the turbos could spin up adequately during each pulse. Then there’s the issue of how an intercooler could fit in (water?).
Horatiu B.

September 4th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
11

@Clara: Interesting point of view. But here is my question: would it be that different from the twin-turbo?
Horatiu B.

September 4th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
12

@Rotor: speaking of the first M3, I just posted some amazing photos. Great car! But I also think that it sold well for that time, these days, there is larger demand for bigger and more powerful engines.
Clara

September 4th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
13

@Horatiu B.:
Hi Horatiu–

well, from looking at the maintenance diagrams for the N54 it looks like the front and rear 3-cylinder “groups” each exhaust to a seperate turbo. Presumably the firing order is designed so that each turbo gets a constant-ish stream of exhaust. Both turbos compress into the same pipe+intercooler+intake system (although really only the large one needs it). The front turbo is smaller, and spins up faster, so you get coverage over more of the rpm range.

Contrast that with the V-engine twin turbos, where each bank blows one turbo and gets intake from that one turbo (generally). Or, porsche’s design where each bank blows a turbo, but one turbo compresses air through the intercooler to the other turbo and then into both banks. Lotus’ twin-turbo V8 uses seperate turbos per bank but changes the usual firing order (and crank design) to get consistent exhaust over each turbo at the expense of engine smoothness.

Anyway, what I’m getting that is that since they haven’t proposed a quad-turbo for the inline-6, nor a tri-turbo for I6 or I4, that there may be a special design that works well where you have 1 turbo per cylinder. Considering the exhaust flow, manifold routing and other issues, I’m speculating that they’re using the exhaust pulse to their advantage somehow, rather than averaging out like in other designs.

Puuuure speculation though
Sean

September 16th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
14

I don’t think BMW us make the best move here because their engines are the best in the auto making world. It wasn’t until recently we ever saw turbos or even a superchared engine from BMW. I think they would be best by starting full production on the hydrogen engines. They have shown the world that hydrogen does not demenish performance it works just as well as gasoline. What was the purpose to waste two decades on this hydrogen engine and not use it. They are lightyears ahead of other car manufactures when it comes to hydrogen and keeping the combustion engine. Yes I no hydrogen stations are few and far between but it makes perfect sense in my mind show the world what they really can do.