Auto & Car Blog

BMW mulls selling engines to other automakers

Saturday, May 26th, 2007

Filed under: Etc., Euro, BMW

Don’t go getting too excited, it probably won’t mean a crate version of the S65 or N54 for Roundel fans. Running an automaker is expensive, especially a manufacturer that leans more toward niche status than casting a wide net. BMW is looking at all options for future revenue, and one of the thoughts that’s occured to the well-respected manufacturer of cars with chutzpah is to bank on its engineering chops and sell engines to other carmakers. Lotus has pimped themselves out for years to other automakers, and the Porsche name has ended up on things like hard drives, so BMW selling their award-winning engines to gain an extra stream of return on their investment is a far less radical move. Hey, if selling their more mundane powerplants to emerging markets like India and China keeps the coffers full and awesome performers rolling our way, we’re all for it.

[Source: Motor Authority]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized, bmw, Business, engineering, motor, carmakers, diversification, diversify, engines, other, revenue, sell | No Comments »

Behold the cam-less future

Wednesday, December 31st, 1969

Filed under: Trends, Etc., Tech

Mechanically actuated valves may soon be a thing of the past. We’ve made over a century’s worth of improvement on the same basic combination of a camshaft, followers (or lifters), a poppet valve and a spring. We’ve gone from using pushrods and rocker arms to actuate the valvetrain to direct-acting buckets motivated by an overhead camshaft with variable phasing and lift. While engineering ingenuity has managed to wring incredible performance and flexibility out of these setups, there’s only so far you can go before bumping into the laws of physics. French automotive supplier Valeo SA has been working on camless engine technology for quite some time and they expect to have their system on the street by 2010 or 2011. Valeo is working with several automakers to implement the camless technology. Eliminating a traditional valvetrain is expected to yield efficiency improvements nearing 20 percent. An increase in performance and emissions decreases will also be realized from the system.

More after the jump

[Source: Valeo via Autoweek]

Continue reading Behold the cam-less future

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized, Electronics, tech, camshafts, cylinder head, CylinderHead, engine electronics, engine management, engine technology, EngineElectronics, engineering, EngineManagement, EngineTechnology, mechanical, motor, motor technology, MotorTechnology, overhead cam, OverheadCam, valves, valvetrain | No Comments »

Geneva Motor Show: Renaultsport Clio F1 Team R27

Wednesday, December 31st, 1969

Filed under: Geneva Motor Show, Hatchbacks, Renault

Click on the image above to jump to our gallery of 16 high-resolution images

Enthusiasts and consumers may contend that F1 racing provides only negligible benefit to road cars, but automakers evidently think otherwise, as more and more buy into the top-tier motorsport each year. Each has its own way of bringing its racing success to the road: Ferrari makes nearly-unobtainable supercars; McLaren’s even more so. Renault, on the other hand, translates their immense success on the F1 circuit into some of the hottest hatchbacks on the market (even if they’re not currently offered stateside).

Renaultsport launched the Clio F1 Team R27 edition to coincide with the racing team’s launch of the R27, the Formula One single-seater they’ll be fielding in the 2007 season that kicks off in a week. The new hot hatch made its public debut at the Geneva motor show last week. Along with special decals and a “Sirius yellow” finish, Recaro racing buckets, lightweight 17″ anthracite rims and a few other special touches, the Clio R27 gets an upgraded “Cup” suspension. The limited series goes on sale this month, and once it’s been sold out, the Cup suspension will be made available on the “ordinary” Clio Renaultsport.

The Clio R27 follows on the same formula as last year’s Megane Renaulsport F1 Team R26, featuring the same livery and treatment, which was displayed alongside the new Clio R27 and the new F1 car on the Geneva show floor. Check out all the action in our high-resolution image gallery below.

Gallery: Renault R27 F1 at Geneva 07