This morning BMW and Saab announced that Saab will be using BMW powerplants in future front wheel drive Saab products. However thanks to various sources it’s become clear that Saab has not just signed an agreement to use BMW engines in future products but to use MINI’s current Prince range of engines in several products. We can confirm the first will be the 9-2 hatchback potentially followed by the next generation 9-3 family of vehicles. But why would BMW give Saab the same engine range from the MINI for a car that will likely compete with it? Economies of scale would be a good reason. But we’re not so sure it’s that simple. We know that 2013 will bring a new MINI hatch that will in turn bring an entire new MINI family of small cars. We also know that BMW is planning on using new three cylinder engines in this new range of products along with a new generation of FWD (and potentially even RWD) BMWs. So where does the Prince family of engines fit into BMW’s future plans? We believe MINI will continue to use the Prince in the R58 Coupé, R59 Roadster and R60 Countryman (and other R60 derivatives) well into the second half of the decade. But the start of a transition to a new generation of three and four cylinder powerplants will begin in 2013 with the next generation MINI hatch and likely continue with the next generation Coupé, Roadster and Countryman line. So what is Saab actually getting? It would seem that BMW is selling an engine on the back half of its lifecycle that won’t be in any BMW or MINI products after the 2018 model year. In short it’s a good sale for BMW. Proven technology but yesterday’s technology that is soon to be on its way out. And on Saab’s end it’s a good buy in that the Prince family of engines has a lot of life left in it. At it’s core there are few 1.6L engines that bridge the gap from efficiency to performance so well. And to develop an engine of this caliber from scratch would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Something newly independent Saab simply doesn’t have.
Hmmmm...... So.... If I remember correctly (not always the case), a short time ago Peugeot wanted to extend their agreement with BMW on small engine development. BMW decided not to, and proceeded to announce their own 3 cylinder and 4 cylinder development (with exciting HP figures). The N-14 was a joint PSA / BMW development. So along comes Saab and makes an agreement to buy the Prince engine FROM BMW. I wonder where that leaves Peugeot? It all fits like a puzzle except the PSA piece. Must be in the very fine print on the back of the legal agreement??? Anyway I'm glad the Prince engine has some life in it now that some of the bugs are being resolved.
I don't agree with the competition part of the analysis look at the Pugeot cars that use the Prince engine line. They are small sporty cars. How much of the brand identity of MINI is in the exact powerplant in the car now? Not much, I'm sure.... Put MINI wings on whatever is under the hood, and people will be happy if performance and economy are about where they are or better. As far as the engine being on it's last legs, I think that is more a choice by BMW than a requirement of what's in the engine. How many variable valve timing turbo DI 4 bangers are out there now? Not a lot, though more are coming. It's got a oil pressure on demand system, variable speed water pumping, and in Europe, start/stop tech. Change the anternator and start/stop system into a light hybrid for more aggressive power regeneration and the tech in the package would be second to none. Continuous improvment could keep the unit going for quite a while, while dropping production costs and amortizing the tooling over a longer usefull lifetime. What does BMW get? MONEY to pay off what must not be as profitable brand as they would like. What does SAAB get? A new dance partner now that they are weaning themselves from the GM teat. Matt