Apart from breaking the trend, BMW are breaking a few hearts too by launching a front-wheel drive range bearing the propeller emblem in the next few years. Make no mistake, these models are not rebadged Minis or anything of that sort, they will be proper BMW designed and manufactured models that break the carmaker’s tradition of rear or all-wheel drive models.
According to BMW blog, the Bavarian outfit has outlined three new front-drive models, a compact, compactive sport gran tourer and a family activity sports tourer, that will hit the market in the next few years.
The compact will wear the skin of a hatch with the compactive sport gran tourer taking on the persona of a minivan while the family activity sports tourer will be more of a larger crossover to cater for families.
There are no details yet on the precise dimensions that the models will come in and neither the segments they will compete in but expect them to contest the premium segments when they do hit the roads.
It can’t be too far off to say the minivan might slug it out in the premium segment with the Ford C-Max and Volkswagen Touran while the crossover could see action against similar Volkswagen offerings as well. As for the hatch, it should have the Mercedes-Benz B-Class and Alfa Romeo Mito in its crosshairs and if we’re lucky, it might even come in a hot hatch spec that could very well be lining up next to the Golf GTI.
However, there’s still no light shed on where exactly the new front-drive line will fit in. Perhaps the 1-Series will be promoted to the 2-Series to make way for the new line or BMW could even go with an all new naming nomenclature for the front-drive models.
Source: BMW blog, WorldCarFans and Autocar
