At a time when many performance brands rewind their drive trains to meet stricter emission regulations, BMW M goes a different way. According to a current Autocar The interview with M Division boss Frank van Meel, the company’s inline-six and V8 engines, does not only survive the incoming Euro 7 rules. Van Meel made it clear that there is no plan to reduce smaller four-cylinder setups, not even in the case of the M5. “I couldn’t imagine bringing a four -cylinder to an M5,” he said to AutoCar during an interview at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
This comment alone will be calming for long-term BMW fans, especially since competitors such as Mercedes-AMG have aggressively reduced. The new C63, for example, switched from a thundering V8 to a turboch plug-in hybrid with four cylinders and triggered a lot of controversy. But BMW M signals that it remains true to its roots – for the time being.
The emission rules change, but the engines are not
Euro 7 regulations that are now delayed by the end of 2026 will not reduce the emission limits compared to 6E. Instead, they demand that the same limits are observed in a much wider series of real driving conditions such as cold starts, urban stop-and-go traffic and high-speed trips. Cars must also remain up to 10 years or 124,000 miles and double the current durability request. The actual technical challenge is how performance engine cools down. Under aggressive driving, many engines convey additional fuel to control the warmth-a strategy that is no longer profitable in accordance with the strict Lambda 1 requirements of Euro 7 (the ideal air-fuel ratio for clean combustion).
“If you are in high -performance situations, you usually cool down with the fuel. With EU7 it is impossible,” explained Van Meel. “So you have to find different options to avoid the temperature accumulation.”
According to Van Meel, the engineers from BMW M have found solutions for this problem without affecting performance. He did not enter into details, but said that the combustion process and the cooling strategy were significantly revised to stay within borders and at the same time maintain what a M engine feels as it does.
Legacy is important
For BMW M, the inline-six and V8 engines are not just a technical election soil are a determining part of the identity of the brand. From the high-resolution straight lines of the E36 M3 and E46 M3 to the muscle twin turbo V8 in M5 and M8, these engines carry decades of technical evolution and racing team. Van Meel said AutoCar that M had no plans to give up these formats in favor of alternatives with three or four cylinders, regardless of how aggressively electrification continues. The most important problem, he said, is the maintenance of the unique performance character of BMW M – especially how the car delivers torque, how high it turns and how it sounds.
BMW has already indicated that the next generation of six -cylinder engine works for the M3, but it remained close to the new technology. However, it is most likely that a mild hybrid setup will go hand in hand with the revised S58. [Source: Autocar]
