The whole world is abuzz with the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, but one company’s poorly-planned actions is hardly reason to condemn diesel engines as a whole. While VW may have had to cheat to get their TDI engines on the road, BMW has been busy putting the polish to its latest oil burning effort, a quad turbocharged straight-six for the 2016 7 Series sedan.
Digital Trends reports that this motor, internally codified as B57 TOP, could produce over 400 horsepower and nearly 600 lb-ft of torque when it debuts in Bimmer’s halo sedan.
Quoting power figures of 408 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque, this would be an approximately 10 percent hike over the outgoing biturbo straight-six found in the 7 Series. More interestingly, the use of twice as many turbos means BMW is likely going for a sequential setup, with two smaller turbos for spinning up at lower RPMs and then two larger ones to take over once the engine is up to speed. In other words, goodbye turbo lag.
There’s also a good chance the 2017 BMW 7 Series could be the first Bimmer to use electronically-driven turbochargers on a production car, rather than the standard exhaust-driven models. With an instant spool time compared to standard turbochargers, electric turbos would probably make more sense on gas turbo engines that lack diesel’s inherent low-end grunt. Then again, the 7 Series is the hallmark of the BMW lineup, a testbed for the latest and greatest technologies that also happen to carry a huge price markup. As far as aesthetics, BMW previewed the look of the next 7 Series with the Vision Future Luxury Concept, pictured above, earlier last year.
The 2016 BMW 7 Series is slated to debut next year, likely at the Geneva Auto Show, though whether or not it remains Euro-only, or makes it over to the U.S. market, likely hinges on what happens with the whole Volkswagen diesel fiasco.