BMW is leading the way in the global sales of luxury vehicles. Their cars are unashamedly driver oriented and their engines are some of the best in the business, yet despite the current boom times for the brand, BMW top brass are looking to expand their profit base, and the answer may lie in becoming a powertrain provider.

On the world stage and when compared to the likes of Toyota, GM and Ford, BMW are still a relatively small fish in a big pond, so it would make sense to maximise the earnings on their powertrain R&D spend.

Earlier this week, Friedrich Eichiner, BMW’s board member for corporate and brand development spoke with Automotive News and confirmed that they (BMW) will be making a decision before the end of this year as to if they will supply their engines and gearboxes to other manufacturers. It is believed that a queue is already forming, with the likes of GM, Daimler and Fiat showing interest.

Being able to buy a General Motors product with a BMW engine under the hood would be a novel experience. However, should this ever happen we are certain that the only keys that will give you access to the full BMW driving experience, will be those sporting the blue roundel.