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Porsche's CEO may be threating to shutdown production of his vehicles in Europe if new mandatory CO2 emissions standards come into force, but BMW is ready to push ahead. In spite of their reputation as a builder of performance cars, BMW already sells more than forty percent of their vehicles with diesel engines. The BMW M models get all the attention, but most of the volume cars even with gas engines are equipped with smaller four and six cylinder power-plants.

In remarks at the Geneva Motor Show CEO Norbert Reithofer, said that the Munich-based manufacturer is moving ahead with technology to make their cars cleaner and more efficient. The EfficientDynamics technology that will premier on the 1-Series, with start-stop control of the engine, and regen braking will expand to other models. They are also switching all their engines to a new engine management system that will further enhance efficiency. In addition a mild hybrid system being developed with DaimlerChrysler will debut in 2009, and the full Two-Mode hybrid is coming as well. Finally, he also confirmed that BMW diesels will be offered for sale in the US market in 2008.

[Source: Just-Auto - subscription required]