Reports: BMW preparing a new engine range for SUVs

According to Handelsblatt referencing ‘insiders’, the Bavarian company is working on a whole family of engines targeting various utility vehicles in various markets around the world.

According to the source, the first cars with these engines will not appear until four years later, and the drivetrain specifics remain unclear. CarBuzz opines that the company wants to keep its inline-six and V8 offerings around for as long as possible, and will be trying to electrify both lineups to minimize their emission profiles.

It also makes sense to assume that, as the time goes by, BMW will go all-electric in some markets and only leave ICE cars on sale in some others. In Europe, ICE vehicles could be banned as early as 2035, but BMW stated before that it wanted to continue selling gas-powered cars where there would still be demand.

Oliver Zipse, the CEO of the company, even went as far as to call the abandonment of the ICE car market ‘a grave mistake.’ He explained that the international market was in no way ready for such change and that it had better occur very gradually, rather than abruptly.