Not long ago we caught wind of some troubling news coming in from Germany. A report claimed that the spectacular quad-turbo B57S engine used on the likes of the BMW 750d or the M550d was set for retirement. Back then it was just a rumor but the confirmation came out today, in the shape of an interview with BMW’s own boss of research and development, Mr. Klaus Froehlich.
Speaking to Automotive News Europe, Froehlich explained that due to the cuts the company has to make in key areas and the complex regulatory systems it has to abide, some engines will be cut from the line-ups. These will be engines that are not exactly popular and yet are expensive to maintain between the emission levels demanded in several markets.
“On the diesel side, production of the 1.5-liter, three-cylinder entry engine will end and the 400-hp, six-cylinder won’t be replaced because it is too expensive and too complicated to build with its four turbos,” he said point blank.
That’s sad news for anyone who had the chance to drive that spectacular engine. It was a marvel of engineering, making the B57S diesel engine one of the two power plants in production today using four turbos, alongside the mighty Bugatti Chiron. Unfortunately, the time to say goodbye has come. The 1.5-liter 3-cylinder diesel mill found on cars like the MINI Cooper D will be put to rest.
Another bombshell Froehlich dropped is that the V12 is heading the same way: “The V12 may not have a future given that we only produce a few thousand units each year and the several thousand euros of added cost it takes to make them compliant with stricter emissions rules.”
Tough cookie to swallow but we all expected it to happen.
Furthermore, it looks like the V8 might also face the same fate. BMW already has a working hybrid powertrain using a 3-liter straight six that offers more torque and power with less emissions:
“When it comes to the V8, it’s already difficult to create a strong business case to keep it alive given that we have a six-cylinder high-powered plug-in hybrid unit that delivers 441 kilowatts (600 hp) of power and enough torque to destroy many transmissions,” Froehlich also said during aforementioned interview.
It’s an interesting interview, the way he crystal balls the future tech. & engineering & breaks down the limitations & needs of various global markets, he makes clear neither China or America are monolithic & they are 2 of the biggest markets.
Will the death of the V12 only apply to BMW or RR as well?
And so the mighty come down.
BMW started the German V12 arms race, only fitting for them to finish it too.
i3, i4, iNEXT, iX3, Mini BEV, etc might help to keep the V12 in RR and 760i alive.
I imagine they will keep making the V12 for RR (a lot of the parts are bespoke anyway) and it’s not like RR are losing money! Then in a few years RR will go full electric and the V12 will be gone!
Probably but until rolls goes EV. Which will eventually happen.
Very sad. Not that i will likely ever buy one new but the thought of their existence is nice. V12 are a special kind of engine, delivering something the joe shmoe v8 turbo will never achieve.
Unfortunately, it’s not justified to have a V12 anymore. You can get better performance from hybrids.
That is completely arbitrary and made up. If the reasoning is CO² then why is a flight for Christmas Shopping in NYC, summer vacation at the Philippines or many other flights within Europe okay but not a V12? Why is it okay to commute with a pesky SUV for hours on a daily basis but the fun weekend cars like V12s, the AMG C63 or the 3.0 I6 140i are not?
I’m currently mad at our Euro politicians because they play an unfair game. They want to control every aspect of our lives and make choices for EU citizens. The reality is more complex than they can handle. The reality is they can’t even build a tiny cycle road to our neighbour villages because of bureaucratic reasons. The fail for decades to improve our public transport and now they decided to destroy the only working transportation system by regulating cars to death and force people to buy BEVs which i think are an environmental desaster, unusable for long journeys and will be uneconomical to repair after 5years or 200.000km. They turn cars into smartphones, short lived, expensive toys that last for a day.
The V12 and the large Diesel going out makes sense when you obey EU communist laws but the 1.5 Diesel? By far the most fuel efficient of them all (at least in the real world). I can only imagine this has to go because small Diesel cars will be axed as well and there will only remain complex hybrid petrol vehicles in the small car market. The emissions filtering has become obsessive, may be the point has been reached where the exhaust filtering starts to cost more than the rest of the engine.
I think following dieselgate, sales figures of small diesel engines are down. Despite it actually being the better option…
Dieselgate and other factors probably. Small cars are often cheap and have small profit margins. Modern diesels, no matter how small, are expensive. Also mondern petrol engines have become even more efficient. The diesel has become less viable. And last but most important fact: emissions strike the hardest on small cars, space problems everywhere and the overall complexity is not worth the effort.
Totally. It’s a shame. That 1.5 was a great engine.
It was but not used by many probably
Fuck the EU.