Jul 11th, 2011
Head of Development at BMW Klaus Draeger has cleared up some questions around the new N37 3 Cylinder engines for Autocar. Yes they are bound for the UKL platform which includes the front wheel drive 1 Series and the F56 MINI. However BMW will not be producing a variant suitable for a rear-wheel drivetrain any time soon. That even means we won’t see the N37 on the rear wheel drive 1 Series either.
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Jul 4th, 2011
The spies have recently caught the prototype for BMW’s future front-wheel drive offering with their lens’. While the car is heavily clad in typical BMW fashion there are a few things that are noticeable- the wheel base is short by modern BMW terms, the front and rear overhangs are small and the windshield is raked back for efficiency purposes. With future MINI offerings coming from the same underpinning UKL platform we can see the similarities.
While some may question BMW’s motive in bringing a front wheel-drive offering to market it really is two fold: 1) Most consumers think the 1 Series is front wheel drive already and that hasn’t hurt sales, 2) The current 1 Series is uncomfortable, smaller and with less cargo capacity than competitors in the segment so it gets hurt in reviews which does in turn hurt sales.
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Jul 1st, 2011
In a strange twist we missed a recent Automotive News piece interviewing BMWNA CEO Jim O’Donnell. In this interview, he discusses the new 528xi coming this fall as well as the new 6 Series but buried in the interview is probably the most interesting bit of news.
Auto News Question: “In the overall luxury market, do you see movement toward more fuel-efficient vehicles? Do you see buyers dropping down in segments: 7 series to 5 series, 5 series to 3 series?
O’Donnell Answer: “I don’t see that. I see us giving the consumer greater choice of electric cars, hybrids, diesels, four-cylinder, six-cylinder, eight-cylinder and ultimately 12-cylinder engines. What we are doing is adding to our choice. We are adding new products at the bottom end, maybe at the top end as well, but volume-wise at the bottom end, where it will enable us to improve our overall average miles per gallon.”
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Jun 1st, 2011
The same day that BMW trotted out it’s highly anticipated 2013 MINI hatch just happens to be the day that the first photos of the front wheel drive 1 Series show up via Worldcarfans.com. Can you tell these cars are sharing development cycles?
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May 28th, 2011
As he did recently with the M3, BMW insider Scott26 has given us an inside look at BMW’s small car strategy. It’s mostly an update on previous information we’ve reported but it’s the best and most thorough we’ve seen. A couple things to note. Once again Scott confirms what other sources have told us, the Z2 roadster will almost surely be FWD. Secondly the 1 Series will include RWD hatches and FWD MINI based cars. Finally the 1 Series Coupe and Convertible will indeed be moved to the 2 Series nomenclature. And yes that means (as we suspected) we’ll likely see something called an M2.
But for those who want to read it in detail, here’s Scott26′s full run-down (as posted on GCF)
The new Premium Compact Class.
In order to make room for the new family of Front wheel Drive BMW’s. BMW are now locked in to seperate it’s core compact premium family.
BMW 1er frontDrive Family
- City Compact
- F.A.S.T. Family Activity Sports Tourer
- Gran Turismo
- Z2
Sharing architecture with the next MINI , The BMW entry models retain the 1er designation but will be identified by unique badging.
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Apr 18th, 2011
Over the last one to two years a handful of automotive publications (including MotoringFile & BimmerFile) have been reporting that BMW intends to share platforms and engines going forward. And while we’ve known for some time the generalities of the plans, we’re starting to get a much a much better view of the future.
For starters BMW intends on using a common platform to underpin up to a dozen cars for both the MINI and BMW brands. UKL as it’s known internally will handle all front and all wheel drive small car needs for BMW and MINI in the years ahead. In fact there are some that believe UKL will even be used for the next generation 1 Series after the F20 – yes that means a front wheel drive 1 Series. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s talk about BMW’s first steps with the new platform.
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Jan 26th, 2011
BMW is looking to base several small cars off of MINI products in the years ahead. The one we’ve mentioned on the site numerous times is the BMW 1001 – based off of the next generation MINI hatchback. Another that has had just some passing mentions both here and on MotoringFile is the 1 Series Gran Turismo. Seen here poorly photoshopped via a UK magazine, the 1er GT will be based off of the Countryman platform and will be strictly FWD.
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Jan 25th, 2011
As we broke in our interview with MINI USA Product Manager Vinnie Kung, MINI has axed the idea of bring diesels to the US market. But in talking about that decision a few things became clear about MINI & BMW’s four cylinder strategy given that the two will be sharing cars in the years ahead.
But first a quick recap. MINI will clearly be without a diesel in the line-up in the US. MINI USA had planned on bringing over the Cooper D for the 2010 model year as early as 2007. The plan was to use the engine without urea injection until 2015 when new EPA rules would go into effect. However the 2008 worldwide economic collapse brought some unfortunately realities to BMW and all non-essential projects were cancelled.
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