German Car Zone

Being that someone, I don't buy into this explanation. You're not seriously telling me that motor development can't develop 4 engines at a time? Furthermore, it wasn't necessary (as to emission targets) to bring out the N55 before the introduction of the Four cylinders.
That nice red M3 who was mistaken for a CSL showed up in 2007, quite some time if you ask me.


Best regards,
south

Well, I'm not really talking about decisions which get changed but the comment (can't find where it is now) that CM deliberately put false information out there to throw people and other manufacturers off the scent. I understand why they do it. I'm just saying the fact that they DO do it means you have to take anything CM or ENI says with a pinch of salt. So that list might mean nothing at the end of the day.

Most things taste better with a little salt. So, that is fine with me

Everything on that list might be gonners by the end of next week, but there might be something in there that is going to be presented at a later stage, in which case we will have been some of the first outsiders to know. That is sweet.

Information is king.

Developing I4-, I6-, V8- & V12-engine families at the same time sounds like lot to me. Furthermore the 4-cylinder engines still seem very competitive at the moment at least to me. If you compare them with closest competitors (Audi & MB) they only lack turbocharged I4 petrol engines. But honestly I'd much rather choose BMW's excellent I6 with CO2 figure of 170 g/100 than Audi's 2.0 TFSI with 167 g/100 km.
BMW's NA I4-petrol engines have one of the lowest fuel consumption / CO2 figures in the whole industry and still put out respective power figures. The I4-diesels are perhaps even more impressive. 20d has higher power output than Audi's 2.0 TDI and 23d matches Mercedes' 250 CDI in power. I don't think you can really complain much.

Everything on that list might be gonners by the end of next week

Information is king.[/quote]


We all understand that development plans are fluid. But this impression would suggest complete anarchy and with any substantial company it just isn't so.

In my opinion Research and Development is a very precise and meticulous undertaking.

Marketing, on the other hand, is complete anarchy.

That's why I used the word development in my response.

Marketing as it relates to CM, concept spin, new product introduction, brand management and alike, absolutely agree very fluid and hard to follow from the outside.

New product development (including concept cars), just isn't that fluid.

I think I can. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I know for a fact that BMW has been working on turbocharged 4 cylinder petrol engines for more than 2 years. Besides, they didn't work on engine "familes", it's rather one I6 TT (with the N55 already being the successor), one V8 TT (not counting the ///M, completely different department) and one V12 TT. Speaking of the latter two engines, they're not exactly what I would call volume models. So, whatever the reasoning behind this move was, it can't be priority. I'd rather say that BMW wanted to stretch the life of the (somewhat lame) DI NA 4 cylinder petrol engines to make up for the development costs. They were introducing spray guided DI engines somewhat prematurely and now are returning to older tech engines. This translates into huge development costs that didn't amortize. But I suppose that wouldn't sound as good as the priority card.


Best regards,
south

There's hope for the CS!.

Knew BMW couldn't just toss such a lovely creature to the grind.

If it's slated for 2012, sounds like they never took a break to begin with. That was about the initial plan.