BMW is reportedly still developing the combustion engine. They will come up with something new in 2026.
While some car companies indicate that they have already developed their last combustion engines, BMW is doggedly continuing. Recently, CEO Oliver Zipse explained how stupid the bureaucrats’ policy is. According to him, the restrictive policy is actually preventing a normal transition to cleaner technology. Zipse sees more in a mix of different drive variants. There is also a role for the combustion engine, whether or not on e-fuel.
Now BMW of course stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke. So it is not necessarily strange that this brand is keen to bring the combustion engine back to life. Beautiful engines, even if they were not always reliable, have always been a USP of the brand.
For the new model generations, starting with the G65 X5, BMW is busy developing new technology. Although it is questionable whether it will also (immediately) reach the production stage. The technology is, as we read on auto-motor-und-sport.de, a type of pre-chamber ignition. Similar is not new and we have seen it before with Honda, for example. But also with the F1 engine of Ferrari.
The idea is that there is a small chamber on the cylinder where a little fuel and air are set alight. From there the flame travels through the cylinder to take over the task of the traditional spark plug and burn the fuel-air mixture.
This has a number of advantages. More powah, more efficient, cleaner combustion, better heat management. You wonder why we haven’t always done this. BMW can theoretically apply the technology, which it has patented in Europe since this month, to three-cylinder engines up to eight-cylinder engines. Whether they will do so is the question. At the moment, use in production cars has not yet been confirmed.
