For a while, whispers of an entry-level front wheel driven BMW ride were getting louder and louder. Now, it has been declared that the German automaker will introduce BMW 1-Series sedan, but with a caveat. The vehicle will be manufactured and sold in China only.
BMW will be manufacturing the vehicle in collaboration with its partner in China, Brilliance Auto. Featuring state of the art connectivity tools, the model was initially developed in Germany with further tweaking achieved through close cooperation of the Chinese Engineers. The BMW 1-Series has an appealing as well as sporty look.
BMW has not officially divulged the technical details of the vehicle, but it can be easily incurred that the new front wheel drive will be based on BMW’s UKL platform as was the case with the current X1, mini, Gran and Active tourer family haulers. The powertrain of this new sedan will most likely comprise of BMW’s new modular three and four cylinder engines along with optional plug in hybrid.
The new BMW 1-Series will be competing with locally manufactured Qoros 3 and Volkswagen Golf based VW Lamando in China. Mercedes Benz CLA and Audi A3 are also expected to be worthy rivals.
Some might miss the new Sedan here, but then who cares as long as the epic BMW rear wheel drive technology keeps its gloss for the traditionalists elsewhere.