European Emissions Regulations Won't Kill Bmw's High-performance Engines

BMW

BMW fans, you tin respire a sigh of relief. The German automaker says its high-performance M straight-six and V8 engines will unrecorded connected past nan preamble of tougher Euro 8 emissions regulations. As an added bonus, M's leader says nan motors aren't going to suffer immoderate power. Oh, happy days.

M CEO Frank van Meel told Autocar while attending nan Goodwood Festival of Speed that nan situation wasn't really to make nan engines EU7 compliant, but to "keep performance." He didn't really get into overmuch item astir what BMW M did to nan I6 and V8 to get this done, but he did show nan outlet that engineers made immoderate "very interesting" tweaks to nan motors that'll beryllium discussed later.

Here's what other van Meel told Autocar astatine Goodwood:

"The full communicative is astir driving pinch lambda 1 [when nan air-fuel ratio for combustion is perfectly matched] truthful you person to support that, and there's nary cooling. Normally, if you are successful high-performance situations, you cool utilizing nan fuel. With EU7, that's impossible, truthful you request to find different ways of avoiding somesthesia build-up.

"The combustion process has to beryllium improved successful regards to power build-up and besides nan cooling, and those are nan challenges. Of people you tin [reduce] capacity to debar this somesthesia increase, but you don't want to – that's wherever we started. The caller equilibrium of capacity is that we thrust lambda one, but we don't want to suffer performance."

Even though emissions levels allowed for cars are uncharge from nan existent Euro 6e standards, they're apparently going to beryllium tested complete a broader scope of scenarios that are meant to amended bespeak real-world driving, according to Autocar. These cars must besides stay compliant for 10 years aliases 124,000 miles — doubly arsenic agelong arsenic nan existent standard.

BMW

Other automakers for illustration Mercedes-Benz person downsized their engines to meet emissions regulations — and nary 1 has been a instrumentality of that. BMW intelligibly sees people's thoughts connected a move for illustration this, truthful erstwhile asked if nan institution was considering downsizing to three- aliases four-cylinder powerplants pinch accrued electrification, van Meel simply said "No."

He went connected to show Autocar that mini engines for illustration that cannot meet M's "very circumstantial mindset" for really it wants its high-performance cars to thrust erstwhile it comes to torque delivery, rev ranges and nan weight of its vehicles. He added that he "couldn't imagine" putting a four-cylinder centrifugal successful an M5.

If only Mercedes-AMG had thought astir these repercussions earlier putting a PHEV turbocharged four-popper nether nan hood of nan C63. It could person saved everyone a batch of clip and energy. Hell, moreover Mercedes knows it made nan incorrect choice. As we've antecedently reported, the automaker is ditching that small centrifugal for straight-sixes and V8s successful upcoming models.