BMW is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the introduction of their first ever V12 engine on mass production vehicles.
In February 1987, BMW released the technical specifications of the 12-cylinder engine in the new BMW 750i, ahead of its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show the following month. The new engine, which had been designed completely from scratch, would develop 300 horsepower from a displacement of 5.0 liters.
With over 3,000 pre-orders before it was even officially revealed in 1987 Geneva Motor Show, BMW knew that it had developed a real winner. Powering both the standard 750i and the long-wheelbase iL version, it was visually distinguished by the much wider kidney grille, used to cool the massive V12.
The unit was internally known as M70 and remained in production until 1996, despite the fact that the updated M73 unit was introduced in 1993.
BMW’s latest iterations of its V12 engine are internally coded as the N73 and N74, which see duty in the Rolls-Royce Phantom (N73) and the BMW 7-Series (N74).
27 Oct 2012
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