BMW Developing City Car, Says Hybrid or EV Possible As Company Looks to Slash Cars' CO2 Emissions

BMW Developing City Car, Says Hybrid or EV Possible As Company Looks to Slash Cars' CO2 Emissions

As Europe cracks down on carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles, automakers are ratcheting up R&D efforts aimed at putting more fuel-efficient vehicles into their fleets.

The latest news comes form BMW, which already is deep into development of hydrogen-burning internal combustion engines for its larger cars.

The Munich-based luxury-performance car maker says it has launched an independent unit to begin developing a small city car (shades of Smart). Project i

At a news conference earlier this week, BMW chairman and Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said the car is code-named Project i and is being developed to help lower BMW's fleet-wide CO₂ emissions as well as to provide entry into a market segment the company doesn't presently serve.

What 's promised and what's really done are often quite different things in the corporate world, but on the promises side, Reithofer said at the press conference that the Project i team "is fully independent and free to act beyond BMW structures if necessary."

He also said it was possible the car could be launched under a separate brand name, the same way Mercedes handles Smart.

No decision yet on what kind of powertrain – no decision yet on how big the vehicle will be or what it will look like – but the choices could include high-efficiency, low emissions gas and diesel engines, a gas-electric hybrid system, and/or battery-electric or even fuel-cell electric systems.

The CO2 Rules

Under proposed CO₂ reduction rules issued in November and still being hotly debated, the European Union wants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from autos to an average of 120 grams per kilometer, or 42.6 pounds per 100 miles, by 2012.

For 2006, the most recent year for which European figures are available, the 17 major automakers' fleets averaged 159.2 grams per kilometer (56.5 pounds per 100 miles) but ranged from a low of 142 g/km for PSA (50.4 lbs./100 mi.) to 282 g/km (100 lbs./100 mi.) for Porsche.

Each car company has been assigned its own 2012 target, ranging from 126 g/km for PSA to 144 g/km for Porsche.

Stiff Fines

Companies that don't meet the targets wold be fined, with penalties starting at 20 euros ($31.23) per car sold for each gram a manufacturer's fleet averages in excess of its assigned grams per kilometer standard. Penatlies would begin in 2012 and the fines would rise to 95 euros per car per excess gram in 2015.

While the rules call for a fleet-wide average of 120g/km, the plan presumes that improvements in fuel will account for an improvement of 10 grams per kilometer, leaving auto makers to average out at 130 grams -- down 18 percent from '06 levels.

BMW's '06 fleet average was 182 g/km, or 64.6 lbs./100 mi.

It would be expected, if the rules are approved, to slash that by 30 percent to 137 g/km, or 48.6 lbs./100 mi.

A small, fuel-efficient city car with extremely low CO₂ emissions would help BMW achieve that goal  and, who knows, could some day find its way to the U.S.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.