BMW has been producing engines for automobiles, motorcycles and aircraft since 1917, when the company began production of an inline-six aircraft engine. They have been producing automobile engines since 1933.

Motorcycle engines

Automotive petrol engines

BMW is well known for its history of inline-six (straight-six) engines, a layout it continues to use to this day despite most other manufacturers switching to a V6 layout. The more common

inline-four A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...

and V8 layouts are also produced by BMW, and at times the company has produced inline-three,

V10 A V10 engine is a ten-cylinder piston engine where two banks of five cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V10 engines are much less common than V8 and V12 engines. Several V10 diesel engines have been pr ...

and

V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to: Aircraft * Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter * Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft * Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project * Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...

engines, BMW also engineered non production customised engines especially for motorsports which includes M12/13, 1.5-Liter straight 4 piston turbocharged engine from 1982-1987 for Brabham, Arrows and Benetton

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

teams, E41/P83, 3.0-Liter V10 from 2000-2005 for

Williams F1 Team Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams (Formula One), Frank Williams and aut ...

and P86/8, 2.4-Liter V8 for their own F1 team parterning

Sauber F1 Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it u ...

from 2006-2009, with which the company enjoyed its first and best finish at

2008 Canadian Grand Prix The 2008 Canadian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2008) was a Formula One motor race held on 8 June 2008 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the 7th race of the 2008 Formula One season. T ...

as full works F1 manufacturer team finishing the race with their winning driver

Robert Kubica Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Polish racing and rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW Sauber F1 team, promoted from test d ...

, and 2nd place

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver. Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...

. British super car manufacturer

McLaren Automotive McLaren Automotive (formerly known as McLaren Cars) is a British luxury automotive manufacturer based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. The main products of the company are supercars, which are produced in-house in designat ...

, a manufacturer of road going sports cars based on Formula One technology, decided to work with BMW for the development of their first ever production car the

McLaren F1 The McLaren F1 is a sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Cars, and powered by the BMW S70/2 V12 engine. The original concept was conceived by Gordon Murray. Murray was able to convince Ron Dennis to ...

in 1993 for engineering and customization its engine the S70 which had a 6.0-Liter 60° V12 DOHC configuration. As only 1,510 units of the cars were produced by McLaren, the S70 engine holds the record of the lowest production engines by BMW to date. Prototype V16 engines have been made, however they have not reached production. These prototypes were the 1987

BMW Goldfisch V16 The BMW Goldfisch is a SOHC 32-valve V16 6.7-litre prototype automotive piston engine based on the BMW M70 V12 engine. Development Development started in the late 1980s. The engine was built to demonstrate the maximum potential of the small ...

6.7 litre engine and the 2004

Rolls-Royce 100EX The Rolls-Royce 100 EX and the 101 EX, with 'EX' standing for ''experimental'' models, are two related concept cars developed by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and first shown at the Salon International de l'Auto, Geneva International Auto Show in ...

9.0 litre engine. BMW has also made prototype

V6 engines A V6 engine is a six- cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V6 engines were designed and produced independently by Marmon Motor Car Company, Deutz Gasmotoren Fabr ...

Timelines

Automotive diesel engines

* Also produced in a naturally aspirated configuration.

Timelines

Aircraft engines

Straight-six

*1917–1919 – IIIa, 19.1 L straight-six — first BMW corporate product of any kind *1919, 1925–? – IV, 23.5 L straight-six *1926–1927 - V, 22.9 L straight-six

V12

* VI, 38.2 L V12 *1926–1937 – VI, 45.8 L V12 * VIIa supercharged V12 *

116 116 (''one hundred and sixteen'') may refer to: *116 (number) *AD 116 * 116 BC * 116 (Devon and Cornwall) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, a military unit * 116 (MBTA bus) * 116 (New Jersey bus) * 116 (hip hop group), a Christian hip hop collect ...

(initially XII), projected 20.7 L V12, never manufactured *

117 117 may refer to: *117 (number) *AD 117 *117 BC *117 (emergency telephone number) *117 (MBTA bus) * 117 (TFL bus) *117 (New Jersey bus) *''117°'', a 1998 album by Izzy Stradlin *No. 117 (SPARTAN-II soldier ID), personal name John, the Master Chief ...

(initially XV), projected 36.0 L V12, never manufactured

Radial

* X, 2.2 L 5-cylinder **Xa, 2.9 L 5-cylinder *1933–? – 132, 27.7 L 9-cylinder, development of

Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet The Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet was a widely used American aircraft engine. Developed by Pratt & Whitney, 2,944 were produced from 1926 through 1942. It first flew in 1927. It was a single-row, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial design. Displacemen ...

built under licence **1935 – 114, prototype diesel development of 132 **1935 – BMW-Lanova 114 V-4, supercharged liquid-cooled diesel prototype development of 114 *1939 -

139 139 may refer to: * 139 (number), an integer * AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar * 139 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 139 (New Jersey bus) 139 may refer to: * 139 (number), an integer * AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar * 13 ...

, prototype 18-cylinder double-row; two-row variant of 132 *1939–1945 –

801 __NOTOC__ Year 801 ( DCCCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Emperor Charlemagne formally cedes Nordalbian territory (modern-day Schleswig-H ...

, 41.8 L supercharged 14-cylinder double row *1942 –

802 Year 802 ( DCCCII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * October 31 – Empress Irene is deposed after a 5-year reign, and banishe ...

, projected 53.7 L supercharged 18-cylinder double row; 18-cylinder version of 801 *

803 __NOTOC__ Year 803 ( DCCCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperors Nikephoros I and Charlemagne settle their imperial boundaries ...

, projected 83.5 L supercharged 28-cylinder 4-row liquid-cooled; essentially two 801s coupled together *1936–1944 – Bramo 323, 26.8 L supercharged 9-cylinder, inherited when BMW bought Bramo in 1939

Jet

*1944–1945 –

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...

axial flow turbojet *1997–2000 – BMW Rolls-Royce BR700 family of turbofans; Rolls-Royce plc bought out the venture in 2000.

References

{{BMW * BMW BMW