Last year during the X5 press launch I was talking with Jason from Bimmerpost about the idea that we may never see another small rear wheel drive BMW. At some point during that conversation we both quietly stared off longly into the abyss. The fact is that we both knew that BMW was losing part of its soul in order to grow profits and remain competitive with Mercedes and Audi – both of whom have embraced small four door front wheel drive sedans.

Any BMW fan will tell you what the real issue is with that scenario. BMW has established its brand with a couple core attributes – one of them always being rear wheel drive based and geared towards the enthusiast. The idea of a front wheel drive sedan flies in the face of both of those things. The only thing worse? A small front wheel drive coupe – which will have more on soon.

Nevertheless based on several sources we believe BMW will introduce a UKL based front wheel drive sedan sometime late in the decade. According to Automotive News, it will likely be 2017.