BMW is designing its upcoming family of diesel and petrol engines to share more standardized parts. These new engines, in 1.5 liter, 2.0 liter and 3.0 liter capacities, will share a common engine block design and other parts. "Our goal is to have 60 percent of components shared between engines based on fuel type, and 40 percent commonality between gasoline and diesel engines," said BMW's head of development for inline engines, Harald Unger, at a press event recently. This initiative should help to reduce cost of production.

Parts and design features to be shared included fuel intake, variable valve timing mechanisms, injectors, turbochargers and exhaust systems as well as mounting points for both longitudinal and transverse configurations. BMW's new family of engines will also be highly-standardized in terms of displacement, adhering to a paradigm of 500 cc (cubic centimeters) per cylinder with the same standard engine block design. The displacements of the engine family will be 1.5 liter (3-cylinder), 2.0 liter (4-cylinder) and 3.0 liters (6-cylinder), for both petrol and diesel units. The new standardized paradigm will not apply to the larger engines such as the V8, V10 and V12 units, which will continue to have individual characteristics.

The new crop of power plants will also feature TwinPower Turbo technology. TwinPower technology features twin-scroll turbocharging coupled with direct-injection and variable valve management that delivers greater output and efficiency from a smaller engine. The technology debuted back in 2009 on the 3.0 liter inline six-cylinder gasoline unit fitted to the 5-Series GT. The technology is also used on other models and larger displacement power plants.