[AlphaKilo]

Hey Guys stumbled upon this while coming back from office! Seems like BMW has a competitor for the B-Klasse:

http://www.tz-online.de/auto-verkehr...2-2502723.html







All images - source:
www.tz-online.de/bilder/2012/09/14/2502723/434610-concept-active-toure.9.jpg

Der BMW Concept Active Tourer präsentiert ein für die Marke BMW neuartiges Antriebskonzept. Der 1,5 Liter-Benzinmotor treibt nicht – wie bislang bekannt – die Hinter-, sondern die Vorderräder an. Der als vollwertiger Antrieb ausgelegte zusätzliche Elektromotor des BMW Concept Active Tourer wirkt auf die Hinterachse und kann das Fahrzeug bei Bedarf auch allein antreiben. © BMW

The concept active tourer presented by BMW with the powertrain option of the 1.5 Litre engine(petrol - discussed in the other thread), with Front wheel drive. It will also feature an electric motor drive in the rear axle and is the electric motor is capable of propelling the car on its own power(batteries and recharging from main engine). It can be charged from any household 220 V charger point.

Enjoy!

[AdiSinghV12]

Looks great!! But why go the Mercedes way (Refer: B-Class) and make a "FWD" car!? I mean for a true Bimmer fan, FWD = Fail Wheel Drive!! I myself drive both RWD and FWD cars everyday and the difference is more than just noticeable. BMW could have made the life a lot worse for its competitors by just following their good-old tradition and making this a RWD compact tourer. Anyways, such is life!! Good luck to 'em for their future lineup!!

[Harbir]

a wrong wheel drive BMW. Finally, BMW has cracked, given up its unwavering commitment to driving pleasure centric cars. Now BMW joins the ranks of poser audis and mercedes that are are undeserving of the storied logos they carry but which attract posers with the hunger for flashy badges.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by AdiSinghV12

Looks great!! But why go the Mercedes way (Refer: B-Class) and make a "FWD" car!? I mean for a true Bimmer fan, FWD = Fail Wheel Drive!! I myself drive both RWD and FWD cars everyday and the difference is more than just noticeable. BMW could have made the life a lot worse for its competitors by just following their good-old tradition and making this a RWD compact tourer. Anyways, such is life!! Good luck to 'em for their future lineup!!

Originally Posted by Harbir

a wrong wheel drive BMW. Finally, BMW has cracked, given up its unwavering commitment to driving pleasure centric cars. Now BMW joins the ranks of poser audis and mercedes that are are undeserving of the storied logos they carry but which attract posers with the hunger for flashy badges.

I know! and I share your feelings, but, what to do, that's fast becoming the order of the world - Front wheel drive. I cannot give sources, but, BMW inside info - next gen 1 series will be FWD. Its approaching the market in a way similar to what Merc's have done, simplifying their platform into FWD and RWD architechture. Small cars will be FWD and bigger ones (read: M3+/M4, 5, 6,7,Z's) will be RWD. Even VW has this strategy. Most, well all German brands are approaching the market with the same idea and similar designs. E.g. see the new VW Golf VII. Rectangular, sharp angry lines.

Its really sad that manufacturers, in the name of Emission norms, and aerodynamics have narrowed down their brains to create very similarly looking designs. Sad is that, its even the Germans who have adopted this approach! Well, hell with us enthusiasts! We are not the majority and the bread earners for these companies. Right!

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

I know! and I share your feelings, but, what to do, that's fast becoming the order of the world - Front wheel drive. I cannot give sources, but, BMW inside info - next gen 1 series will be FWD. Its approaching the market in a way similar to what Merc's have done, simplifying their platform into FWD and RWD architechture. Small cars will be FWD and bigger ones (read: M3+/M4, 5, 6,7,Z's) will be RWD. Even VW has this strategy. Most, well all German brands are approaching the market with the same idea and similar designs. E.g. see the new VW Golf VII. Rectangular, sharp angry lines.

Its really sad that manufacturers, in the name of Emission norms, and aerodynamics have narrowed down their brains to create very similarly looking designs. Sad is that, its even the Germans who have adopted this approach! Well, hell with us enthusiasts! We are not the majority and the bread earners for these companies. Right!

+1! Though that's not really a bad move looking at it from the general public's view. 70% of their future 'small' car buyers wouldn't be bothered by the fact that its a FWD, but surely the remaining small percentage would be left hurt, who are known as enthusiasts. Following wasn't really BMW's style (Refer: X6, X1, etc), don't know why they need to do what OTHER's are doing...

[AlphaKilo]

ya as you said, FWD being the requirement of today, its no point in griping about it. All I hope is for some good quality product, acceptable performance with the FWD and long-term reliability. In most cases, all Germans are maintaining their stands atleast in this department and are making some good looking cars, irrespective of the fact that they tend to look similar to one another.

As we had been discussing in the other thread(1.5 L BMW 3 cylinder), this would be a monster engine with each cyclinder volume around 500 cc. Add the battery powered rear wheel drive motor, its sure to win hearts of both environmentalists and some drivers(most buyers!).

Personally, I like the electric drive on the rear wheels. Although, the control, when to switch the motor is not going to be in our hands, it would be fun to experience the huge torque from the electric drive.

[Harbir]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

I know! and I share your feelings, but, what to do, that's fast becoming the order of the world - Front wheel drive. I cannot give sources, but, BMW inside info - next gen 1 series will be FWD.

a couple of points:

1. Front wheel drive is not fast becoming the world order. It already became the world order a quarter of a century ago, with most cars being fwd. Credit goes to Alec Issigonis who created the first Mini in an effort to build a cheap small family car with the least use of precious resources in WWII ravaged Britain. Alec Issigonis created the layout that 99% of cars on the road everywhere in the world today use, that of a transversely laid out engine and transmission driving the front wheels through CV jointed axles. The result was a car that both hugely spacious inside for the size of the outside, which in addition yielded handling traits that were highly suitable in rain and snow, and in addition made the car cheaper than an equivalently spacious conventional car by doing away with the rear axle, diff housing, drive shaft, etc.

By the mid 1980s, everyone, including the americans, were making most of their cars in this layout. And the fact is, except for driving purists, and in very high horsepower applications, fwd is indeed the better layout.

The only exceptions to the transverse driveline, front wheel drive were large luxury cars that had more power than front wheel drive could handle without torque steer (though cadillac did make huge luxury cars with fwd), and sporting drivers car that relied on rear wheel drive to provide secondary yaw control (primary is at the steering), from the rear of the vehicle, which makes rwd cars so so so much more fun to drive the front drivers or 4 wheel drivers.

Since big powerful luxury cars and driver focused sporting cars are the exception rather than the norm, the transverse engine front wheel drive design took over as the main configuration, rightly so. You only need to look at the cabin of an accord/camry vs, say, the E class to see just how much more spacious the fwd cars are.

2. You don't need inside sources to know that the next generation 1 series is going to be fwd. Its news that has been appearing in western car magazines and car websites for quite a while now. BMW has 3 reasons for doing what its doing:

- The first 1 series was a major sales disappointment. At the time it was designed, BMW was unshakably committed both to its devotion to inline 6 engines, rear wheel drive, and to its opposition to forced induction in petrol engines. Accordingly, BMW created the 1 series to be rear wheel drive, and able to be fitted with inline 6 engines. This didn't work. The car ended up looking strange because inline 6 engines require a very long bonnet, too long for a hatchback to look balanced, and with an interior that was too small compared to the competition, because an engine bay designed for a long engine block, with a gearbox behind it, with a drive shaft in the car and a differential in the back simply did not leave enough room for an interior that could compete in terms of space with conventional hatchbacks. it became clear that if BMW wanted to compete seriously in this segment, inline 6 engines could not work. Being opposed to turbo 4s, and unable to afford the cost of developing a rwd platform for 4 cyl engines that could not be shared with the 3 series (since it would take inline 6 engines), BMW was stuck. They came up with a 2 door saloon version to sell in north america as a stop gap, but clearly, the BMW had a small car problem.

- It was hoped that the small car problem would be dealt with by Mini. It was fwd, transverse engined, had been engineered to BMW levels of engineering and sophistication, and had been widely acclaimed and was a runaway success. The 1-series problem wasn't a problem after all. But it was. BMW had always intended to expand the Mini portfolio but they found themselves seriously constrained by the brand. The mini was really mini. It worked in its own niche, but BMW couldn't very well make a car like the Ford Focus or the VW Golf and still call it a Mini. Mini was constrained also by the fashionable exterior and interior designs that were expected of the brand but would not do for a mainstream product. BMW has been experimenting with expanding the Mini portfolio while trying to maintain the perceived core values of the brand, but it became clear that Mini cars would never be mainstream products.

- As this was going on, BMW itself changed. The board, with new leadership, decided that BMW would no longer be content being a relatively small scale producer of car purist cars for driving enthusiasts. Anyway, most of its buyers were not purists and they were only buying the cars because of the prestige that the products had developed. But Lexus, Audi and Mercedes were just as attractive to these buyers and there was no reason for BMW to keep pandering to driving enthusiasts at the cost of its own profits. BMW was going to widen its appeal, and not let itself be deprived of profits because of a dedication to making the "ultimate driving machine". Within a decade, BMW cars lost their focus (with only the 3 staying true), and the portfolio blossomed with new products that BMW would never have made earlier, but which went to huge success.

With that ended BMW's culture of only making cars that appeal to the enthusiast driver.

- And while all this was going on, The regulatory environment changed in a way that did not favor BMW. CO2 emissions regulations in Europe and fuel efficiency regulations in the US started putting huge pressure on car makers. Sophisticated new electronic control systems meant that turbocharging could be used to provide power on demand, but to provide fuel efficient running at other times. At any given level of performance, a smaller engine with fewer cylinders and turbocharging would produce better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions than a bigger normally aspirated engine with more cylinders. BMW's customers themselves didn't much start demanding fuel economy, but the government regulations did. BMW, in anticipation of the impending compulsion to switch to smaller turbo engines, gave up on its no-turbocharging rule and started first with the turbocharged inline 6. It was a very successful and well received engine. News started leaking out that the M5 would lose its V10 in favor of a turbo V8, the M3, its V8 in favor of a turbo inline 6, and the inline 6s would go in favor of turbo 4s. (BMW enthusiasts wept because no turbo engine has ever produced the charisma and richness of personality that BMW's normally aspirated M engines did. It was also felt that this was the end of how special the Ms felt. After all, if both the 335i and the M3 have the same engine, what would be different apart from the boost pressure? ) On the positive side, this opened up possibilities for small cars. Now BMW would have the sort of engines it takes to compete successfully in the small car business.

And this is where mini comes in again. While the mini brand was severely limited from expanding into the mainstream, the underlying platform was not. In today's world, computer aid design has enabled very sophisticated platform sharing. One platform can be scaled up and down and across a very large range of performance, size and cost. BMW will not have two fwd platforms. THey will have only 1, which will see service both in mini and BMW 1 series, with appropriate alterations in size.

If you have a fond memory of the time when BMW was so devoted to its principles it would make such an odd duck as the first 1-series to compete against the likes of the VW Golf, this is all very sad, because if nothing else, it means that the focus on driving pleasure that BMW brought, that the products of other makers could not replicate despite their best efforts because they didn't have the corporation wide culture, has been lost. If lexus, audi, mercedes, and Infiniti could not produce the sort of driver pleasure that BMW could, not BMW won't be doing it either.

That, to those have known and loved BMW for decades, feel like a terrible terrible tragedy.

To everyone else, it means an exciting new option in a market place that had become bored with Golfs and what not. and to BMW shareholders it means a lot more money.

[rohit choudhary]

here are a few exterior and interior Photoshop renderings

source(http://www.carbodydesign.com/2012/09...dE9aE.facebook)

[karan561]

BMW teases the small tourer concept (now officially called 1 series GT);







Source: http://www.autocarindia.com/News/349...es-gt-mpv.aspx

[AyAn!]

The segment might be a little pansy,but it still looks like a proper BMW. You've got to give them that!

[Latheesh]

Nice looking BMW except that horrible exhaust pipes. Design looks out of place, may be because of chrome!

[Automaton]

Time to start picking up old RWD in line six 3s and 5s. Preferably with stick shift.
Hoping the 1 to be launched here has a stick option.