BMW CEO confirms new family of three, four-cylinder engines

1.5 million engines is a lot of engines – and that’s the number of engines that BMW wants to develop with a new family of modular gasoline and diesel units.

“(That’s) a scale we never had at BMW before,” said BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer said.

The 1.5 million figure is more than the 200,000 vehicles that BMW Group’s three brands sold last year, which came in at 1,286,210 vehicles, with small and compact cars accounting for about 400,000 units.

Reithofer told analysts that the family will consist of 3, 4, and 6-cylinder engines, primarily for use in the company’s new front-wheel-drive architecture. He said that the powerplants will also be used in BMW’s rear-wheel-drive cars.

BMW confirmed last week that it is working on a front-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive architecture that will underpin a new range of entry-level BMW vehicles.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)