Source: BMW

Developed in collaboration with Swiss clean tech company Bcomp, these flax-based lightweight components aim to help BMW reduce CO₂e emissions in future vehicle models

BMW announced plans to utilize natural fiber composites in its series-production models after successful application in racing cars, the automaker said in a press release on June 17. After years of development and research, these composites, derived from renewable raw materials, have been deemed suitable for meeting the strict requirements of roof structures in vehicle homologation.

Developed in collaboration with Bcomp, a Switzerland-based clean-tech company, these flax-based lightweight components aim to help BMW reduce carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions in future vehicle models. The German carmaker has invested in Bcomp through BMW i Ventures, its corporate venture capital arm. 

BMW has been a pioneer in lightweight vehicle construction to improve fuel economy and reduce CO₂ emissions. The use of natural fibers with a reduced CO₂e footprint in composite materials has become increasingly important for the German carmaker. These materials are particularly suitable for use in visible body exterior and interior trim components. BMW claims that using natural fiber composites in place of carbon fiber composites in the roof of next-generation BMW vehicles will lead to a 40% reduction in CO₂e emissions during production. 

The use of innovative reinforcement parts made of natural fiber materials began in the 2019 Formula E season by BMW M Motorsport and has since extended to models like the BMW M4 DTM and M4 GT4, replacing carbon fiber plastic parts. Bcomp became an official partner of BMW M Motorsport in 2022. The new lightweight materials will face rigorous testing in the BMW M4 GT4 during the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring.

Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH, highlighted the role of natural fiber composites in reducing CO₂e emissions and confirmed their readiness for series production, anticipating their future use in BMW M product ranges. “Natural fiber is an innovation that perfectly exemplifies BMW M’s claim, ‘Born on the racetrack. Made for the streets.' This is why we are delighted to confirm the series maturity of these materials, a breakthrough we achieved with our official partner Bcomp. We are now looking forward to the use of these materials in future BMW M product ranges,” van Meel said.

This content may be AI-assisted and is composed, reviewed, edited and approved by S&P Global.

Contacts

Copyright © 2025 S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.

These materials, including any software, data, processing technology, index data, ratings, credit-related analysis, research, model, software or other application or output described herein, or any part thereof (collectively the “Property”) constitute the proprietary and confidential information of S&P Global Inc its affiliates (each and together “S&P Global”) and/or its third party provider licensors. S&P Global on behalf of itself and its third-party licensors reserves all rights in and to the Property. These materials have been prepared solely for information purposes based upon information generally available to the public and from sources believed to be reliable.
Any copying, reproduction, reverse-engineering, modification, distribution, transmission or disclosure of the Property, in any form or by any means, is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of S&P Global. The Property shall not be used for any unauthorized or unlawful purposes. S&P Global’s opinions, statements, estimates, projections, quotes and credit-related and other analyses are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions, and do not address the suitability of any security, and there is no obligation on S&P Global to update the foregoing or any other element of the Property. S&P Global may provide index data. Direct investment in an index is not possible. Exposure to an asset class represented by an index is available through investable instruments based on that index. The Property and its composition and content are subject to change without notice.

THE PROPERTY IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS. NEITHER S&P GLOBAL NOR ANY THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS (TOGETHER, “S&P GLOBAL PARTIES”) MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, FREEDOM FROM BUGS, SOFTWARE ERRORS OR DEFECTS, THAT THE PROPERTY’S FUNCTIONING WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR THAT THE PROPERTY WILL OPERATE IN ANY SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE CONFIGURATION, NOR ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO ITS ACCURACY, AVAILABILITY, COMPLETENESS OR TIMELINESS, OR TO THE RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE PROPERTY. S&P GLOBAL PARTIES SHALL NOT IN ANY WAY BE LIABLE TO ANY RECIPIENT FOR ANY INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE. Without limiting the foregoing, S&P Global Parties shall have no liability whatsoever to any recipient, whether in contract, in tort (including negligence), under warranty, under statute or otherwise, in respect of any loss or damage suffered by any recipient as a result of or in connection with the Property, or any course of action determined, by it or any third party, whether or not based on or relating to the Property. In no event shall S&P Global be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees or losses (including without limitation lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs or losses caused by negligence) in connection with any use of the Property even if advised of the possibility of such damages. The Property should not be relied on and is not a substitute for the skill, judgment and experience of the user, its management, employees, advisors and/or clients when making investment and other business decisions.

The S&P Global logo is a registered trademark of S&P Global, and the trademarks of S&P Global used within this document or materials are protected by international laws. Any other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

The inclusion of a link to an external website by S&P Global should not be understood to be an endorsement of that website or the website's owners (or their products/services). S&P Global is not responsible for either the content or output of external websites. S&P Global keeps certain activities of its divisions separate from each other in order to preserve the independence and objectivity of their respective activities. As a result, certain divisions of S&P Global may have information that is not available to other S&P Global divisions. S&P Global has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of certain nonpublic information received in connection with each analytical process. S&P Global may receive compensation for its ratings and certain analyses, normally from issuers or underwriters of securities or from obligors. S&P Global reserves the right to disseminate its opinions and analyses. S&P Global Ratings’ public ratings and analyses are made available on its sites, www.spglobal.com/ratings (free of charge) and www.capitaliq.com (subscription), and may be distributed through other means, including via S&P Global publications and third party redistributors.