Helmut Werner Bönsch, BMW's director of product planning, and Alex von Falkenhausen, designer of the M10 engine, each had a two litre engine installed in a 1600-2 for their respective personal use. When they realized they had both made the same modification to their own cars, they prepared a joint proposal to BMW's board to manufacture a two litre version of the 1600-2.[2](p73)[10](p21) At the same time, American importer Max Hoffman was asking BMW for a sporting version of the 02 series that could be sold in the United States.[10](p21)
As per the larger coupe and 4-door sedan models, the 2.0 engine was sold in two states of tune: the base single-carburetor 2002 producing 75 kW (101 hp)and the dual-carburetor high compression 2002 ti producing 89 kW (119 hp).[1](pp161,162,251) The 2002 Automatic, with the base engine and a ZF 3HP12 3 speed automatic transmission, became available in 1969.[1](p251)