It’s Official: BMW & PSA to Continue Joint Engine Development

Today BMW announced that they have reached an agreement for both parties to jointly develop a successor to the current four cylinder family of engines found in the MINI and several PSA products. The new engine will be more efficient and will meet EU 6 requirements that will come into force from 1 January 2015 for the registration and sale of all new cars in Europe.
Interestingly we’ve also heard rumors of BMW sharing some of it’s engines directly with MINI that are being developed or its new range of efficient vehicles. We’ll have more on this soon. Until then, the full release is below:
Official Release: The BMW Group and PSA Peugeot Citroën will continue their successful engine collaboration. An agreement to that effect was signed by Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, and Philippe Varin, Chairman of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën, in Paris.
The two companies have agreed to develop the next generation of the jointly designed 4-cylinder petrol engine which will meet EU 6 requirements. Currently, the engine is being used in several MINI, Peugeot and Citroën brand models.
The partners have also confirmed to examine other possible areas for cooperation at systems and component level, with the aim of leveraging synergies in the development, production and procurement of selected components.
“We have always been very successful in our cooperation with our partners, and that is particularly true with regard to PSA. We are delighted to continue our engine cooperation and look into options for further collaboration.†said Reithofer.
PSA Peugeot Citroën’s Chairman of the Managing Board Varin declared “this new agreement with BMW is confirming the success of the cooperation between our two companies which has produced 1.3 million engines since 2006. I am confident that the next generation of jointly developed engines will reach the same success as the current generationâ€.
22 Comments
<p>…and we wait with bated breath for the onslaught from the R56 bashers…</p>
<p>Looking forward to hearing more about BMW motors in future MINIs… a BMW diesel? The turbo 3-cylinder motor BMW is considering for an Isetta-like microcar?</p>
<p>I fear this means that there will be MINI specific engines in the future and not BMW shared engines.</p>
<p>French engines rule!!</p>
<p>And to think 68 years ago France, England and Germany were at war.</p>
<p>Hey, does anyone know if Peugeot or Citroën’s suffer from the Cold Start Clatter???</p>
<p>“Hey, does anyone know if Peugeot or Citroën’s suffer from the Cold Start Clatter???”</p>
<p>Apparently a problem on all the Peugeot THP gas engines.</p>
<p>No problem with this move and does make sense although I still am not the biggest fan of the backwards MINI engine. Lets just hope they have more luck with avoiding 3 year fixes on motor issues in the future.</p>
<p>I hope BMW/PSA engine will add more horse power than my present Mini Clubman. Can’t waite for my crossover clubman.</p>
<p>So if its a problem on ALL of the THP motors…what is Peugeot doing about them???</p>
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<p>So if its a problem on ALL of the THP motors…what is Peugeot doing about them???</p>
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<p>FWIW BMW is confident that they’ve fixed the issue with the upcoming March hardware update.</p>
<p>And BMW was confident that there was no cold start issue until customers made enough… noise… about it. They just need to axe the “French connection” and drop a 335i/135i engine in the R56. Behind the seats. Driving the rear wheels. Sweet Sassy Molassy!</p>
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<p>And BMW was confident that there was no cold start issue until customers made enough… noise… about it.</p>
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<p>Yup that is true. Just sharing what I’ve heard with high level sources. They clearly know there’s an issue. In fact a few of their cars have had the problem. They know it’s very real.</p>
<blockquote><p>They just need to axe the “French connection†and drop a 335i/135i engine in the R56. Behind the seats. Driving the rear wheels. Sweet Sassy Molassy!</p></blockquote>
<p>Well that is a solution. I like the Prince engines (and I like the Tritecs) but I don’t think either is a truly great powerplant like a few BMW mills from the last few years. It’ll be very very interesting to see reaction to what’s next. I cannot wait to see comments if what I’ve heard comes to fruition.</p>
<p>You, sir, are a shameless tease. :)</p>
<p>Glad you noticed :)</p>
<blockquote>And BMW was confident that there was no cold start issue until customers made enough… noise… about it.</blockquote>
<p>Just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the folks that work on MotoringFile for putting together such a great forum for the MINI enthusiasts. We know that the folks at BMW monitor this site, and hear what we have to say. When there are issues like this, we all have a great place to post. And here’s to US for contributing to this site, and helping (we hope) make MINI better.</p>
<p>You have peaked my interest with that statement Gabe, lets just hope is propels something smaller than a 3k lbs wonder (see the R60) ;)</p>
<p>Yesterday the engine warning light came on after just 7000ks on my fourth (not a misprint) Prince engine. Car wouldn’t start, spluttered and back fired etc. The first three had the cold start issue, although no warning light.</p>
<p>I love this engine. The performance and economy is amazing. However, the reliability, according only to my own experience, is extremely questionable.</p>
<p>I continue to believe I’ve just had bad luck. But still.</p>
<p>I’ll bet BMW leveraged the well-documented problems with the existing engine in their negotiations and ended up getting an offer they couldn’t refuse from PSA Peugeot Citroën on the follow-up petrol engine. The economics, along with a promise from PSA that “we’ll get it right this time” probably trumped any lingering reliability concerns within MINI corporate.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that it always comes down to the bottom line.</p>
<p>French fryers rule!</p>
<p>Gary, maybe it was more of BMW saying that they’d desing a valve train that didn’t cause tons of warranty work! Remember it was co-developed, and Gabe keeps saying that it was mostly a BMW/MINI design effort. The Price wasn’t an existing motor that MINI just decided to buy off the shelf…</p>
<p>Matt</p>