Yes, BMW is building its first compact sedan. It will be called the 1-Series but there’s little reason to be excited about it as it will join the ranks of those special set of vehicles that will be launched only for the Chinese markets in the coming year.
As per Overdrive, there’s equal parts of Chinese and German engineering and input that go into this new segment. This is because the compact sedan has been developed by BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd that is a joint venture of the BMW Group and the Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd.
According to BMW, the 1-series has been built from the ground up, keeping the needs of Chinese customers in mind, which is why it will be produced solely for that particular market. The development and testing of the vehicle however, has been done in the BMW headquarters for which inputs came from Chinese engineers.
Image: Overdrive
Image: Overdrive
The BMW 1-Series compact sedan is based on the UKL platform which also shares its underpinnings from the BMW X2 which was showcased at the Paris Motor Show. So far all that has been revealed is an image of the interior.
Coming to the stuff that matters, Overdrive states that BMW 1-series is expected to include the 118i, 120i and 125i. The 118i will feature a 1.5-litre engine that will churn out 136PS of power while the 125i engine variant at the top end will deliver 231PS of power. Let’s hope that BMW changes its mind and decides to bring this compact sedan to India.
The BMW 1-Series in all probability is the outcome of its BMW Concept Compact Sedan which was unveiled at the Guangzhou Motor Show back in 2015.