BMW to Supply Twin-Turbo Diesel Engines for Police Cars

BMW has agreed to provide turbodiesel engines to the Carbon Motors Corporation to propel the company’s purpose-built police vehicles.

In a deal finished on Monday, Carbon placed an order for over 240,000 of BMW’s 3.0-liter flat turbocharged six-cylinder engines. The turbo engine is the same one used in the BMW X5. As measured in the X5, the 3.0-liter turbodiesel produces 265 horsepower and 425 lb-ft of torque.

The agreement requires BMW to deliver the turbo engines to Carbon with an automatic transmission, cooling system, and exhaust gas recirculation.

Carbon Motors is currently building the E7, a purpose-build police car that will be available only to police organizations. The E7 is expected to debut in 2012, and the corporation reports that it has 12,500 reservations for the patrol car already. The corporation is headquartered in Connersville, IN, where it intends to build vehicles in a plant formerly used by Visteon.

According to Carbon’s Website, the E7 will have an aluminum spaceframe structure, be designed to last for 250,000 miles, and will be built to withstand a 75-mph rear-impact collision. The performance targets for the E7 are a 0-60 time of 6.5 seconds, city/highway fuel economy ratings of 28/30 mpg (made possible by the diesel engine), and a top speed of over 150 mph.