FWD BMW in the pipeline

New BMW small car will share front-wheel drive with Mini

This is the description of the media involved in the media container above.

Purists will lament the concept, but it's believed that BMW is in the process of developing a new, front-wheel drive entry level model to compete against the like of Audi's A1 and the new Smart ForFour from Mercedes-Benz.

Priced and positioned beneath the 1 Series, the new model will share many components with the Mini brand to economise the production process and mark a significant shift in BMW's thinking - as well as retaining its premium image, there's a significant drive toward increased market share.

In an interview with Autocar, BMW CEO Robert Reithhofer confirmed the project, which is justified by internal studies that reveal continued demand for premium vehicle in the small car class. "We will be extending the BMW and Mini brands into the small car segment with new models and variants," Reithofer said.

According to Autocar, the new model will be developed to share the next-generation Mini's underpinnings, which is not due till 2014 - but it's been suggested the new BMW could be made available in the UK as early as 2013.
"For these new vehicles we are developing a common architecture for both front and four-wheel drive," Reithofer said.

The new model will in all likelihood be built at BMW's Oxford plant, where the Mini is currently assembled, and share the powerplants that come from the Hams Hall engine production facility.

But rear-wheel drive need not be eliminated from the equation just yet, because the new chassis is being developed to support four-wheel drive as well, which could always result in rear-wheel drive applications in future if the demand is there.

Topics In This Article

Company:	BMW
Person:	Audi
Product:	Smart

Comments

What?!? A front-wheel drive Beemer!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Posted by: Thorn

I agree... a FWD BMW just cant be... first they bail on F1 - now they do this. Next thing we'll hear the new M3 will be a turbo'd AWD... mark my words

Posted by: Anonymous

at the end of the day a BMW is just a car, the same way a Merc, Audi etc. is and sales are what keeps brands alive. I've driven enough new MINI's to know that I would be happy driving a sporty FWD BMW. I'll admit I might not have said this 5 years ago but I'd rather see BMW stay in business competitively than see it disappear like some other brands have done in recent times. I've decided to not get stuck in the past but rather trust in BMW's visions for the future, I have not been disappointed yet.

Posted by: Anonymous

I have been saying this for years. BMW should bring out FWD. Why? Cheaper to manufacture and takes up less space. Not every car has to be a sportscar.

Posted by: CRV Driver

When Mercedes Benz brought the A-Class on the market, everybody was raving about MB going FWD. Now people are buying it and think it's wonderfull. The Mini is also a BMW product and nobody complained about it being FWD. BMW can go the FWD route on small cars, but they must keep the bigger cars RWD. When the 1 Series was on the horizon, I thought they would have made it FWD, but they kept the RWD recipe to my surprise. Like Anonymous said, an AWD M3, NOOOO!!!! It would not be right!

Posted by: Deon

what a shocker,but as I know BMW it will be a succes.when is BMW going to built a bakkie/truck.come on BMW.!!!!!

Posted by: hein stiglingh.carletonville.

whaat!?..a front wheel bmw, how shocking i mean where will the power be derived from, i mean why not keep it traditional and all brutually powerfull, which is what naturally distinguishes a bmw from the rest...the pricing: i just hope it lives up to its name of being small car with a small price.

Posted by: Ole