Lower emissions, more driving pleasure: No other car maker besides the BMW Group applies this principle so convincingly and successfully in practice. Both today and in a long-term comparison, BMW and MINI are far ahead of all competitors in the premium segment in reducing both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
This unique position held by the BMW Group is the result of the EfficientDynamics development strategy comprising all innovations serving to reduce fuel consumption and emissions versus the former model and, at the same time, enhance road performance to an even higher standard.
This is made possible by the fundamental, all-round philosophy of BMW EfficientDynamics. Optimisation of vehicle efficiency is indeed the guideline applied by the BMW Group in all areas of vehicle development, bearing testimony to the unique competence of the BMW Group in terms of powertrain, transmission and suspension technology, promoting the intelligent flow of energy within the vehicle as well as the intelligent choice of materials for superior lightweight construction, and ensuring the permanent optimisation of aerodynamics.
Like the latest results in the area of engine and transmission development, the new Aerodynamic Test Centre (ATC) now completed by the BMW Group clearly confirms the Company's consistent quest for further progress in the context of EfficientDynamics. Ongoing reduction of fuel consumption and emissions calls time and again for new, massive investments in the Company's research and development facilities, since only highly qualified specialists using the most advanced technology are able to create trendsetting, future-oriented concepts for individual mobility.
As the world's most successful manufacturer of premium cars, the BMW Group readily faces this responsibility and develops an above-average commitment in offering Sheer Driving Pleasure on even less fuel and with even lower emissions.
The most efficient premium cars come from BMW and MINI.
Innovations serving to reduce fuel consumption and emissions are an elementary part of the product substance in each and every BMW and MINI. So it is fair to say that every new BMW and MINI comes with the latest features in EfficientDynamics combined individually in each case in accordance with the character and nature of the respective model.
No other car maker currently offers such a huge range of efficiency-promoting technologies throughout all vehicle segments, without even charging an extra price for these breakthroughs in technology. So again, this approach to the requirements of today and tomorrow confirms the unique character and philosophy of BMW EfficientDynamics in the world of motoring.
Through the consistent use of appropriate technologies with their high impact throughout the entire model range, BMW is able to offer a full-scale, all-inclusive improvement significantly reducing CO2 emissions in road traffic.
The unique BMW EfficientDynamics strategy comes out clearly in an objective comparison of average fuel consumption and emission figures. According to statistics compiled by the German Motor Vehicle Registration Authority, the average fuel consumption of all BMW and MINI vehicles registered in Germany in 2008 is just 5.9 litres/100 kilometres, equal to 47.9 mpg imp, the average CO2 rating is 158 grams per kilometre. Both figures are significantly lower than the average of all vehicles registered in Germany in 2008.
Making further progress in the improvement of efficiency in recent times, the BMW Group stands out clearly also from other manufacturers in the premium segment. From 2006 to 2008 alone, BMW's average fuel consumption and CO2 ratings were down by 16, the average MINI ratings by 20 per cent. These improvements are more than twice as good as the next-best level of improvement achieved by a competitor in the premium segment.
In all, the reduction in average CO2 emissions achieved by the BMW Group, as calculated by the German Motor Vehicle Registration Authority as a non-partisan observer, is four times greater than the average figure for all car makers operating in the German market.
EfficientDynamics: a firm part of the BMW Group's product substance and corporate philosophy.
The leadership held by the BMW Group over the competition results not just from short-term action or new priorities, but is rather the result of a consistent, ongoing strategy. On a European level this is borne out, among other things, by a reduction of fleet consumption between 1995 and 2008 of far more than 25 per cent, meaning that the BMW Group with the BMW and MINI brands has already over-fulfilled the commitment made by the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).
The EfficientDynamics development strategy, production processes able to save resources, and high social standards for employees at all company locations are fundamental highlights of the BMW Group's corporate philosophy. These factors help not only the products made by the BMW Group, but also the Company itself, to take on and maintain an outstanding position within the car industry – a position reflected, among other things, by the latest Dow Jones Index. This ranking compiled jointly by the Dow Jones Indices, Stoxx Limited, and the Zurich-based Assets Management Company SAM, is acknowledged as the world's most important benchmark for entrepreneurial responsibility. And precisely here the BMW Group is ranked for the fourth time in a row as the "World's Most Sustainable Car Maker".
Through its clear focus on innovation and sustainability, the BMW Group is particularly well prepared for the challenges of the future. The BMW Group uses its competence in technology and financial resources specifically to offer vehicles combining supreme efficiency and fascinating performance both today and in the future.
An investment in the future: the Aerodynamic Test Centre.
No other car maker is as committed as the BMW Group to making lasting and substantial investments in the enhanced efficiency of new models. Building the new Aerodynamic Test Centre, the BMW Group now has even greater competence and qualifications than before in the area of innovative technologies contributing in the medium and long term to the further improvement of all BMW and MINI models in their fundamental strengths and benefits. For optimisation of the car's aerodynamic qualities improves both its performance and efficiency, as well as the driving stability offered by the car on the road. Precisely this is why optimum aerodynamics is already a fundamental factor today in the development of new models.
Building the ATC, the BMW Group is giving even greater emphasis to the ongoing enhancement of aerodynamics as an essential cornerstone of the EfficientDynamics philosophy. Optimised aerodynamics have a direct impact on the car's fuel economy and emission management, a reduction of air drag by 10 per cent offering the customer a reduction in fuel consumption on the road by more than 2.5 per cent – and even such an at first sight "insignificant" improvement is of great importance to the BMW Group as part of an overall package for the enhancement of efficiency.
With BMW Group cars already offering excellent aerodynamic qualities today, further improvement and, indeed, optimisation, calls for a substantial investment. So making such an investment in the ATC, the BMW Group clearly expresses its intention to use all facilities also in future in order to improve both fuel economy and emission management to an even higher standard.
The ATC offers new options and potentials in analysing the aerodynamic qualities of a car – and at the same time flexible processes applied at the ATC as well as its location in the immediate vicinity of the BMW Group's Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ) optimises the integration of all activities in the overall process of vehicle development. In future, therefore, the BMW Group's aerodynamic specialists will be working next door and hand-in-hand with BMW's designers, constructors, engine specialists and other experts.
Over and above such enhanced integration into the development process, the ATC has facilities and capabilities unique the world over in determining aero-dynamic features and qualities in a truly realistic process. One option, for example, is to analyse new models at a very early stage of development in a wide range of different situations with all test scenarios following real-life driving conditions. This means not only the consideration of all kinds of speed ranges, but also different driving situations such as driving in a bend, taking the actual movement of the body into account.
A further point is that the ATC is now able for the first time to render and analyse the interaction of a car with other vehicles, for example when overtaking, thus offering yet another new benefit in the development of production cars.
So far such tests could only be conducted on the test track, with cars almost completely developed in every respect. Now the knowledge gained in this process can be fed back into the development process much earlier, serving to effectively optimise a new model right from the start.
Most advanced wind tunnel technology for realistic measurements.
The BMW Group's new Aerodynamic Test Centre is the world's most modern facility of its kind throughout the entire automotive industry. The ATC comprises a wind tunnel serving to analyse vehicles in their original size. To reproduce the most important effects and phenomena when driving on the road, the road surface is modelled through a simulation process using no less than five rolling tracks.
A second wind tunnel allows the engineer to move the models tested from one position to the other by means of a control system operating in all directions above the world's largest rolling road in a wind tunnel. This serves to analyse vehicle flow conditions under all kinds of circumstances, applying a concept already used for a number of years in motorsport. Now, therefore, aerodynamics and driving dynamics may interact and be combined with one another also in the development of production cars.
The number of scenarios available as well as the precision of the test processes applied at the ATC offer a standard quite unique for a facility of this kind. Both wind tunnels, to mention just one example, are able to generate an air flow velocity of up to 300 km/h or 186 mph, for the first time providing exactly the right, correct physical conditions for the measurement of true-to-scale models.
In all, the BMW Group has invested some Euro 170 million in the construction of the Aerodynamic Test Centre and the facilities/equipment used. Within about three years, the five-floor building constructed on a piece of land measuring approximately 25,000 square metres or 6.2 acres has been completed in the immediate vicinity of the Munich FIZ Research and Innovation Centre and boasts architecture quite unique at very first sight, providing a clear hint from the beginning that the technology used inside is very special indeed.
One example of this distinctive look and architecture is the round contour of the fan for the horizontally arranged air flow ring in the main wind tunnel clearly recognisable on the southern side of the building. The vertical air flow ring for the model wind tunnel, in turn, likewise stands out clearly in the centre of the ATC.
BMW's EfficientDynamics specialists focusing in the ATC specifically on aerodynamics used to work at no less than five different locations before moving into the new Test Centre, travelling up to 20 kilometres in order to work together in the wind tunnel. Now, by putting all these specialists together in one building, the BMW Group ensures direct contact with extremely small distances between the various specialists and has established new processes for highly efficient interaction and cooperation. In all, some 500 specialists in BMW EfficientDynamics will be working together in the new building.
Even more efficient: new generation of straight-six power units with turbocharger technology.
Together with the new ATC, BMW is proudly presenting the latest results in the development of particularly powerful and, at the same time, impressively economical straight-six power units. Indeed, these new engines, whether running on gasoline or diesel fuel, offer a significantly better balance of fuel economy and superior performance than ever before – quite simply, because both engines use special technologies developed by BMW to enhance both efficiency and dynamic performance. Both power units therefore offer the same kind of momentum and superiority in the development of power otherwise provided only by a much larger eight-cylinder, while at the same time they are naturally much lighter and offer substantially better fuel economy and emission management.
BMW's new TwinPower Turbo gasoline engine developing 225 kW/306 hp for the first time combines turbocharging, direct fuel injection and fully variable valve management in one drive unit. This combination of a twin-scroll turbocharger with High Precision Injection and VALVETRONIC exclusive to BMW gives the new engine fully suited for the world market not only unusually spontaneous and direct behaviour, but also exceptionally low fuel consumption and emission ratings.
This 3.0-litre six-cylinder develops its maximum torque of 400 Newton-metres or 295 lb-ft at an engine speed of just 1,200 rpm and then maintains this superior torque level all the way to 5,000 rpm. In comparison with the straight-six featuring Twin Turbo technology and High Precision Injection already featured in several model series, the engine at the same time offers a further reduction of fuel consumption by up to 9 per cent.
Introducing an additional top version of the six-cylinder diesel already featured in the BMW 730d and the BMW 330d, BMW once again proves the outstanding potential this engine technology has to offer. Again, the new generation of BMW's straight-six diesel, combining multi-stage turbocharging with common-rail direct fuel injection, offers fascinatingly dynamic power and performance with maximum efficiency. And again in the spirit of BMW EfficientDynamics, numerous innovations on the all-aluminium engine as such, the two turbochargers and the injection system ensure a significant increase in power as well as a further reduction of fuel consumption and emissions. Not only the turbocharger system is even more efficient than before, but also the supply of fuel through piezo-injectors operating at an injection pressure of up to 2,000 bar.
The new 3.0-litre BMW TwinPower Turbo diesel delivers maximum output of 225 kW/306 hp at an engine speed of 4,400 rpm, with peak torque of 600 Newton-metres/442 lb-ft at just 1,500 rpm. These figures alone allow the new engine to take over the leading position from its own predecessor as the most sporting and dynamic six-cylinder diesel in the world, at the same time offering some 4 per cent lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
BMW's new eight-speed automatic transmission: the intelligent way to more gears, greater efficiency and enhanced driving dynamics.
BMW's new eight-speed automatic transmission is yet another example of how outstanding engineering qualities are able to offer a significant improvement in driving pleasure and, at the same time, far greater efficiency than ever before.
This innovative power transmission first introduced in the twelve-cylinder BMW 760i and BMW 760Li excels in particular through its exceptional efficiency and wide range of qualities. At the same time, through its special characteristics, the new eight-speed transmission raises both the motoring comfort and the dynamic performance of the respective model to an even higher standard.
Yet a further important point is that this significant progress over BMW's six-speed automatic transmissions already lauded the world over for their superior gearshift dynamics and efficiency has been achieved in a particularly intelligent manner. The two additional gears give the entire transmission an even broader range of increments and, at the same time, keep the change in engine speed when shifting from one gear to the other even smaller than before. Thanks to the innovative configuration of the gearsets, the number of additional components required and, accordingly, the weight of the new eight-speed automatic transmisson, has been reduced to a minimum.
Converter slip limited to the lowest range of engine speeds, a high degree of inner efficiency, low frictional losses with only two clutches open at a time, the longer transmission ratio of the higher gears, and the improved suppression of vibrations enabling the driver to use the car much more at low speeds, help to reduce fuel consumption versus the former six-speed automatic transmission by approximately 6 per cent.
A further important point is that the eight-speed automatic transmission enhances the dynamic qualities of the engine by opening and closing only one clutch at a time in nearly all gearshifts, even when shifting down by more than one gear. This offers an important benefit so far provided only by the double-clutch gearbox and combined in this case with all the benefits of an automatic transmission relevant to the customer, such as dynamic acceleration from low engine speeds.
The new eight-speed automatic transmission is also a particularly future-oriented solution for the transmission of power in a premium car. It may be combined with all kinds of engines varying in their design and performance, being used not only in cars with rear-wheel drive, but also in all-wheel-drive models. And at the same time the eight-speed automatic transmission also has all the qualities to form a perfect combination with hybrid drive. This alone ensures a unique blend of efficiency and dynamism on a brand-new level, proving that this concept perfectly suited for the future will be heading for success after reaching production level in the course of 2009.
The new options offered by BMW's Aerodynamic Test Centre, together with current and future innovations in drivetrain technology, will serve on many occasions to solve the conflict of interests between growing dynamics and optimised economy in all segments of the market. As a result, therefore, the BMW Group has an even better position than ever before in developing cars for the future which, through their design and driving qualities, will offer a fascinating driving experience combined with equally supreme fuel economy and emission management.
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