Since the diesel scandal triggered by Volkswagen, which has affected the entire automotive industry, many carmakers have been reluctant to commit to a future which involves diesel engines. BMW has been one of the few that has reiterated their commitment to the development of diesel engines.

Not only for the BMW Group, but also for most other cars in Europe, the diesel engine is extremely important. Without the economical self-ignition as an essential component of the fleet consumption, the CO2 limits required by the EU are inaccessible and, of course, engines operating according to Rudolf Diesel’s principle, at least in Europe, also represent a large part of the sales figures.

According to Gerhard Wölfel, Managing Director of BMW Motorenwerk Steyr in 2016,  the Munich-based automaker will continue the further development of diesel engines. Already today, the self-ignition system stands for 69 percent of production at the BMW Motorenwerk Steyr, which has built just under half of all BMW engines in the past twelve months with 1.26 million engines.

In peak times, more than 5,500 engines are built daily, which means around 3,800 diesel engines per day. And in order for the BMW Group to further strengthen its position as one of the world’s leading suppliers of clean and efficient diesel engines, a further 100 million euros will be invested in the development of the diesel engine development center by the end of 2017 alone.

Herr Wölfel said: “We do not see any drop in the demand for diesel engines, and we would like to have a factual discussion on the subject. We will still need highly efficient internal combustion engines in the next 10, 20 years due to the CO2 reduction targets in Europe and in many other countries around the world. The BMW Group will continue to develop its diesel engines in the future. Developing means investing. By the end of 2017, we will build 30 new engine test stands by investing 100 million euros, which will enable us to continue to develop and build the best engines in the world. This is a clear commitment to Austria and the location of Steyr.”

[Source: Bimmertoday]