For the third time in a row, the awards jury – consisting of 62 high-ranking international automobile journalists from 30 countries – awarded the principal prize, the highly sought-after “International Engine of the Year” to the Bavarian automobile manufacturer.
This year the trophy went to the new BMW 3.0 litre Twin Turbo petrol engine, fitted in South Africa to the BMW 3 Series Coupé and Convertible and soon to debut in the Sedan.
The world’s first in-line 6-cylinder engine with Twin Turbo technology also came out tops in two other categories, winning the “Best New Engine of the Year 2007” and the 2.5 – 3.0 litre capacity class.
In addition to the engine’s enormous pulling power, the jury was particularly impressed by the high efficiency of the 225kW power unit. With 9.5 litres per 100km in the BMW 335i Coupé, the average fuel consumption level based on the EU norm is extremely moderate for this performance class.
Two awards were won by the V10 high-performance engine, found under the bonnet of the BMW M5 and M6. The 373kW power package with a capacity of five litres received the award “Best Performance Engine of the Year” as in the last two years, and also won in the engine class over 4.0 litres capacity.
In 2005 and 2006 this engine won the “International Engine of the Year” award itself. “The BMW V10 is still unsurpassed,” said jury member Jeroen Jongeneel of De Telegraaf.
The 2.0 – 2.5 litre award was won by the 2.5 litre 6-cylinder petrol engine used in the BMW 325i, the BMW 525i, the Z4 Roadster 2.5si and the X3 2.5si.
And this was not the end of the prize series for BMW Group. In the 1.4 - 1.8 litre category the trophy jointly went to BMW Group and PSA Peugeot Citroën, the developing partners of the 1.6 litre turbo engine that powers the sizzling new MINI Cooper S recently released in South Africa.
Over the last nine years, BMW has won over 38 of the highly sought-after “International Engine of the Year Award” trophies, making it by far the most successful manufacturer in the history of the competition.
