BMW Group achieves breakthrough to use natural fibre composites in series production.

How natural fibres are making their way from the race track into series production – and helping reduce CO₂e emissions from vehicles even further in the future. Renewable materials have already been used in motorsport at the BMW Group, but now natural fibre composites are making their way into series vehicles too.

After many years of intensive research and development work, #naturalfibrecomposites have now reached series maturity at the BMW Group. Renewable raw materials were first used to make innovative reinforcements in 2019, when BMW M Motorsport introduced them in its Formula E cars. But  natural fibre composites are now set to be used in future series production as well. Developed to maturity, natural fibre composites even meet the rigorous requirements for roof structures in overall vehicle homologation.

Lightweight engineering has been a key focus of development work for many years at the BMW Group, and the integration of lower-CO₂e natural fibres into composites has gradually gained traction. Tests show that these kinds of materials are best-suited for visible exterior and interior components.

The BMW Group’s collaboration with the Swiss clean tech company Bcomp aims to reduce CO₂e emissions from cars even further in the future.

Natural fibre composites are particularly suitable for making visible interior and exterior parts. In vehicle roofs, for example, they can replace conventional carbon fibre components – and reduce the CO₂e footprint from production by about 40 percent, including end-of-life considerations.

According to Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH, the use of these materials provides further evidence that the culture of innovation is very much alive at the BMW Group: “Natural fibre composites are a vital element in innovative lightweight solutions for motorsport and enable lower CO₂e emissions from production. They are an innovation that perfectly exemplifies the BMW M philosophy of ‘Born on the Racetrack. Made for the Streets’. BMW M Motorsport and our official partner, BComp, are delighted to confirm the series maturity of these materials, and we are now looking forward to using them in BMW M products of the future.”