What country are engines for mini cooper made at?

Answer 1

In 1997, Chrysler Corporation and Rover Group (then a subsidiary of BMW) formed Tritec, a joint venture to design a new small straight-4 engine for small cars. They built a factory in Campo Largo of Curitiba, Brazil, to manufacture the engine. When BMW sold Rover Group, BMW retained the stake in Tritec.

It is also called the Pentagon engine. Production began in September 1999.

It is a modern engine with an SOHC 16-valve head, electronic throttle control, and meets Euro III emissions requirements. There are three versions of the engine, 1.4 L, 1.6 L, and supercharged 1.6 L.

BMW complained about the performance of the engine. According to Ward's Auto, Erich Sonntag of BMW described the Tritec engine as old fashioned and not very effective on function, performance and fuel efficiency.[1] BMW has replaced this engine in the MINI with the new Prince engine family developed in partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroën, since Chrysler was a part of their rival DaimlerChrysler. BMW's contract with Tritec expired in 2007 and it terminated the joint venture with DaimlerChrysler in July. DaimlerChrysler passed on the engine factory to the Chrysler group when the two split up and Chrysler was sold off later in 2007.[2]

In February 2006, the Chinese auto company Lifan bid to purchase the factory after 2007, when the current Tritec engine is no longer needed by BMW and Chrysler. Lifan's plan calls for moving factory tooling to China where it would produce a derivative of the Tritec engine by 2008. These engines would then be used by Lifan to begin an automobile export business to Europe and North America.

In March 2008 Fiat Powertrain Technologies announced it will buy the plant and licenses to produce Tritec engines. This investment is around 83 million euros.[