It ‘s clearly a bit of a marketing exercise but this video gives us a glimpse at what BMW has in-store for us with it ‘s new engine range. But first a couple of key stats. A single engine architecture will serve as the basis of the new family of engines that will include three, four and six cylinder configurations. Furthermore this common design allows for 60% of parts to be shared across the range which in-turn allows for more time spent engineering the parts of lower cost (because of greater quantity).

But more importantly this will allow for smaller, lighter engines to produce the same if not more power than current larger powerplants (all with greater efficiency). This means in some cases cars currently with eight cylinders will get six, six will get four and four will get three. None of this should come as a surprise as we ‘ve been reporting it here and on MotoringFile for a few years. But seeing the video demonstrating the engines is still somewhat of an a ha moment.

And yes this all means BMW will be keeping it ‘s inline engine philosophy intact for the foreseeable future.