As we were looking for pictures the other day for our story on the availability of the BMW Group’s new 1.5-liter TwinPower Turbo engines in the United States and Canada, we discovered images of a prototype of the 1-Series five-door hatchback fitted with this powerplant on the company’s website.
To date, while BMW has set the market introduction of the 1.5-liter TwinPower Turbo engine in diesel and petrol forms for 2013, it has only confirmed the i8 sports coupe and the i3 supermini gasoline-electric hybrids as the recipients of the three-cylinder units.
Nevertheless, we have heard that the new three-cylinder engines will also make their way under the hoods of several vehicles, including the next generation of MINI models, the 1-Series range –which would explain the prototype in the pictures- including the production version of the Paris Motor Show Hybrid Acitve Tourer, and possibly even the 3-Series, X1 and X3 in certain markets.
BMW has said that the gasoline version of the turbocharged 1.5-liter engine will be offered in various states of tune with outputs ranging from 120Hp to 220Hp and peak torque from 180Nm to 240 Nm.
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