The Chinese love sedans with lots of knee room in the back, and the BMW 1-Series is/has neither of those things. It is currently sold in the country, but a sedan model based on it would boost sales considerably, as it could be sold at a lower price than the 3-Series, and the all-important badge would reel in the customers.
Now, it has been revealed that this is more than just pure speculation, as Autoexpress has learnt that such a model is actually being considered.
Speaking to Ian Robertson, BMW sales and marketing boss, they found out that the brand “is never shy of new segments,” and that despite the fact that “there are no plans to do it at the moment,” they’ll weigh their options and they’ll see if they want to do it or not. Also, if this car were to be made a reality, it would not be a China-only model, as it would go against the company philosophy on global vehicles.
What would make more sense for the company, since they are working on their own highly-modular front-wheel drive platform, is to have a MINI-based sedan. “Making a MINI like this certainly wouldn’t be the norm, but then part of MINI’s appeal is not to be normal,” said Robertson. If we were to judge the two statements, it would appear that they would be more inclined to follow this option, rather than reworking the more complicated rear-wheel driven 1-Series.
Then again, BMW could go both ways and produce the two saloons based on the MINI, in which case, it would most likely wait for the next generation car, which is due in early 2014.
By Andrei Nedelea
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