Frog-powered: the new BMW Series 1.
Is this BMW’s admission that the French make better diesels?
German carmaker BMW is for the first time to install engines made, not in Germany, but in France, according to a report in the newsmagazine Der Spiegel.
According to the report, BMW is to build a new range of four-cylinder diesel engines at the Peugeot PSA plant at Douvrin near Lille.
The two companies currently produce a 1.6-litre engine for BMW’s Mini range and for the Peugeot 207.
Now a foreign-made engine is to go into the 1-Series being planned by the Bavarian company.
According to Der Spiegel, BMW managers no longer fear their highly regarded brand will be hurt by using a French-built motor and were thus prepared to break what was formerly “an iron rule” at the company.
