MOTOR

With emissions regs strangling the atmo engine, MOTOR answers, is

there any hope for a naturally-aspirated future?

LAST GASP

M

ost of the time on most

technologies, the rest of the

world’s car companies take

their lead from Germany.

Germany’s three premium brands live

and breathe in the sweet spot between

volume and margin, so they can let

their geeks wander down research and

development paths that would be too

flippant for mass production or too risky

for a Ferrari or even a Jaguar to follow.

The technologies then take anywhere

from half a generation to a generation

(so, between three and seven years) to

make it to global volume brands. Sadly,

the news from the Big Three Germans

isn’t good for the future of naturally

aspirated engines.

As of the new M4, BMW no longer

sells a car without a turbocharger. Not

one. Instead, you can buy a BMW with

one, two or even three turbos. You just

can’t buy a BMW (car) with none.

The same thing goes over at Audi,

where you can buy cars with turbo,

biturbo or supercharged engines, but you

won’t get natural aspiration until you

reach up into the rarified air of the RS4

or R8. Even then, the next RS4 is going

turbo and the next R8 won’t have the

4.2-litre atmo V8, so the 5.2-litre V10

will be the last one the brand ever offers.

Benz has turned its back on atmos,

too, though there are hints that an atmo

straight-six power might return with the

next E-Class. But it seems unlikely.

Porsche is the holdout, with flat six

motors still doing their own breathing

in the Boxster/Cayman and the 911. It

publicly denies it, but even Porsche has

been working on a turbo four-cylinder to

slide into the next Boxster/Cayman and

the stillborn smaller sports car.

Where did it all go wrong? There was

talk, of course, and there was a drift

back to turbos in the early noughties,

but the immensity of the threat to the

future of atmo engines really hit home

during the Frankfurt Motor Show about

six years ago. During an interview with

M-B’s engine boss, Bernard Heil, he

was chatting about the downsizing of

engines, which we’d heard about before.

Downsizing had become a fast, easy,

affordable way for carmakers to meet

more stringent emissions laws from not

just the European Union, but from the

AN

LLARUT

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86 march 2015 motormag.com.au
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