I don't really know either, but to my eye the part looks like is a broken piece of aluminum casting, judging by the rough edge on it. I am familiar with this because years ago when I owned a 1998 BMW M3 sedan, my then-teenage son borrowed the car one evening and returned holding a piece of cast aluminum that looked very much like the one above. It was part of the bracket that attached the air conditioning compressor to the engine. Someone had taken a couple of large rocks that lined the road and put them in the middle, hard to see and which he didn't think was really a rock until he hit one. After a thorough evaluation of the damage at the dealer it came to over $8,000--back in about 2001! Fortunately covered by insurance. -Bob