With hundreds of thousands sold worldwide BMW has created an enormous hit with the 1 Series. Available in four body styles the car has brought typical BMW characteristics to the modern small car market while creating renewedexcitement among both old and young BMW enthusiasts. So where does BMW go from here?

As much as the 1er has been successful there have been a couple notable issues brought-up by the motoring press and enthusiasts. First are the looks. Totally subjective but it ‘s worth noting that the design has been somewhat polarizing. Secondly weight. Being based so heavily on the E90 3 Series the 1 Series has always been surprisingly portly.

With the 2012 1 Series BMW hopes to right both of those wrongs to some degree. While we don ‘t expect the weight to decrease substantially, we ‘ve been told to expect a car that takes advantage of low-cost weight saving technology found throughout BMW ‘s current range. Further BMW will focus on packaging (especially on the hatchback) to bring it a little more inline with the space found in the Golf and other similar sized hatches. Then finally there will be several new high output 4 cylinder engines starting from the 1.6L mill found in the latest JCW MINI to an updated version of the 3.0L twin turbo engine featuring over 330 bhp.

Then there ‘s the look. We ‘ve been told by sources to expect a more aggressive upright stance that will play off of the CS concept grill design in a new way.

Debuting initially will be two hatchbacks, the 3 door and 5 door (currently not available in the US market). There are no plans at this time to bring either to the US market but that could always change. Following a year and a half later will be the coupe and convertible versions. Look for sleeker, less chunky, lines and a noticeably wider track on all of the new 1 Series.

Finally a full two years after the initial launch we should see the much rumored BMW Z2 roadster. If rumors are true the Z2 will be a light weight version of the 1 Series with two seats, a cloth top and a variety of 4 cylinder powerplants. Think of it as an updated version of the late 90 ‘s Z3 roadster.

Much of this information has been floating around in our inbox for months but until just recently we hadn ‘t confirmed it with any trusted sources.